Outcasts
by Hellion Duo
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki and Gaara Sabaku are a couple of misunderstood outcasts that only have each other as true friends. They escape their harsh reality by wrecking havoc in video games, and prove themselves some of the greatest as beta players on the infamous SAO. But soon, their escape just becomes a new prison. Watch them beat impossible odds. Warning, dark themes and twisted humor.
1. Game Start

Anime/Manga » Naruto » **Outcasts**

Author: Hellion Duo

1\. Game Start 2. Shattered Glass

Rated: T - English - Drama/Hurt/Comfort - Reviews: 8 - Published: 08-15-17 - Updated: 03-18-18

id:12616012

 **Kamui: This idea was born from my waifu Ninjazzz's genius mind. We do not own Naruto or Sword Art Online.**

 **WARNING: This story contains FEMALE NARUTO, character death, violence, foul language, and dark humor.**

* * *

 _"The truth is everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for."_

 _-Bob Marley_

* * *

There was no such thing as having nothing.

Naruto Uzumaki was a sixteen year old girl who firmly believed this. She believed this because if she didn't, she was pretty sure life would continuously suck.

Naruto's parents were killed by a serial killer when she was only just a few days old, a man named Madara who would spend the rest of his numbered days behind bars. As a result of his actions, she'd lived the first twelve years of her life bouncing from orphanage to orphanage, to this person's home, to that person's home… beaten by him or her, on and on… being taken in and then discarded and shipped somewhere else.

And then she met Gaara…

He was living in the group home they met at after being let off on violent assault charges, and they just clicked. Two emotionally stunted and awkward brats became friends. Of course it'd taken awhile for Naruto to get Gaara to trust her, but after an incident with a gang of much bigger school bullies after school… they learned that watching each other's back made their harsh lives easier to endure. They learned how to endure together, that they were the same.

Naruto eventually learned Gaara's father had put him up for adoption at the age of six, having never stopped blaming Gaara for the death of his wife in the process of giving birth to him. Gaara's uncle, his mother's brother had taken him in, but he'd just abused Gaara, hitting him and locking him in dark places. His uncle was presently behind bars, sentenced to thirty years on death row. The law forces had found children buried in his backyard, all killed because the man had been trying to perfect his technique before he finally killed Gaara for "murdering" his sister.

From then on Gaara bounced from place to place, becoming more and more violent, traveling in and out of juvenile detention centers, and seething with silent hatred for the world. With hatred for himself... the one no one could love.

Gaara had an older sister and brother, Temari and Kankuro, but he wasn't in good contact with them. They sent letters from time to time, which Gaara respectfully responded to. They cared, but they didn't want to upset their father by getting too close to Gaara.

That's where Naruto came in.

She sends the occasional letter to Gaara's siblings as well, reporting on his well being and little things they'd been up to.

Gaara's siblings felt better knowing their younger brother had someone like Naruto by his side.

Of course… Naruto left out the trouble they sometimes got up to, because even if they were straightening out and Naruto had a part time job (at Ichiraku, an awesome little ramen bar), they were still kind of delinquents at heart.

Said troublemakers lived in the same apartment building, having been cleared by the government to live by themselves while they finished up high school.

Temari and Kankuro sent Gaara money to live along with their letters, and Naruto's god father, a man she hadn't met until she was thirteen, sent her an allowance as well.

It was his way of making up for not being around earlier, honestly having thought she'd have a better youth. Her god father Jiraiya sent her gifts as well.

Jiraiya was a big time reporter that traveled a lot, as well as a novelist on the side, so he had plenty of money to spare.

His habit of sending Naruto and sometimes Gaara really expensive gifts is actually what was starting to get the two friends out of the trouble that seemed to be in love with them.

A while ago, Jiraiya sent Naruto and Gaara both the extremely new yet popular game system called the NerveGear. Which is a helmet that stimulates the user's five senses via their brain, so players can experience and control their in-game characters with their minds.

Along with the system, Jiraiya provided the teens with a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG), called Sword Art Online. Both the game and the NerveGear were created by Akihiko Kayaba, a man that Jiraiya knew personally, having been the reporter to put his system on the front page news. As a thank you for giving him such publicity, Akihiko gifted Jiraiya with two NerveGear, who then gave them to Naruto and Gaara.

The two friends tested out the game, becoming two of the one thousand people to beta for Sword Art Online. They became hooked, and the beta was closed.

Soon SAO was updated, and they began playing again, already equipped with great gaming skills from the previously closed beta.

Almost everyday after school Naruto and Gaara played SAO together, escaping for a short time from the reality that was constantly kicking them down.

They were regarded as outcasts and freaks at school, but in game, they were a team that was unmatched.

Well, Naruto liked to say so, if only to get Gaara to snort a small laugh.

"Yo Gaara, you gonna get on the game?" Naruto asked, pulling her keys from her jacket pocket, looking over to the blood haired boy that was doing the same to her left.

Sky blue connected with seafoam green.

Said green eyes stared unblinkingly at the wide blues across from them.

"It's Friday Naruto, you know what I'm going to do." The boy intoned.

Naruto shoved a wild tuft of sunshine behind her ear, lips lifting in a grin.

"Let's kick some ass today, ne?"

Gaara rolled his eyes but the grin was clear on his face, unlocking his door and pushing it open with an audible creak.

Naruto did the same, before turning back and extending her fist.

"Awesome!" She chirped. "See you there man."

"Mm." Gaara nodded once, knocking his fist against hers.

The two friends then turned, entering their homes and closing the doors behind them.

* * *

Naruto tossed her bright orange school bag onto the blue sofa centering her living room, toeing off her loafers before hopping about trying to pull off her tights.

She probably should've sat down as they were thigh highs. She slipped into a pair of her favorite pair of black sweat pants and changed into a simple burnt orange spaghetti strap tank top, (her favorite gaming pj's). She lied on the ocean blue comforter on her bed, and pulled the nerve gear on, the clock hit four nineteen and she smiled.

"Game start."

* * *

 _~Naruto~_

* * *

My surrounding view changed from my ceiling with the glow in the dark stars, and painted tree tops to a beautiful blue sky with soaring birds, small shops, and stone paved walkways.

I can feel the wind blowing my hair and I can hear all the people starting to arrive. My avatar has blue eyes and shoulder length red hair. A hand is on my shoulder and I turn to meet eyes with Gaara. His avatar has green eyes and he kept his red hair. Originally I wanted us both to have red eyes because it would've been uber cool but Gaara told me to 'chill' and that we'd freak the competition anyways, so no need to do anything to our looks. I can understand what he means. Looking at Gaara his avatar is dressed in a crimson red shirt with black trim and black pants.  
I'm clad in a pair of black slightly baggy pants, a burnt orange shirt with black trim. We're both wearing black fingerless gloves and combat boots. Bandages are wrapped around the forearms of my male avatar, and whereas I don a sleeveless black hooded jacket with a burnt orange trim, Gaara is clad in a crimson half sleeve hooded jacket. Both pf our overcoats fall to our knees.

"Ready to go Kyu?"

"Let's go Ichi."

Gaara, (sorry!) _"Ichi"_ and I headed out towards the forests to get some cash and points in to try leveling up. Because the two of us were betas we knew this level better than the back of our hands, which came from many misadventures and the two of us getting into trouble. Why? Because trouble is practically married to us and it isn't our fault.

"Hey wait!" A voice calls from behind us.

I shoot a look to Gaara silently asking if we should stop for the person who I know is chasing us. Gaara sighs and we stop, the figure getting closer till they finally catch up to us. It's a boy, most likely a couple years older, he looks goofy with his short messy raven hair and stupid grin on his face. As he approaches one arm is scratching the back of his head and his eyes are closed in an eye-smile.

"You seem to know your way around. I'm a rookie mind giving me a hand?" His eyes open to reveal a onyx-grey.

I give a quick glance to my bestie and he shrugs uncaringly though his posture shows he's alert as usual, he and I aren't in any rush to get anywhere anyhow.

"Sure, I guess we can show you around. I'm Kyu, this is my friend Ichi. What's your name pansy boy?"

I can see Ichi smirk out of the corner of my eye.

"P-Pansy boy? That is so uncool. I'll have you know…"

I hold a hand up, holding back my grin, as I interrupt him.

"Let's go. We're burning daylight." With that I walk off, Ichi right next to me as the newly monikered pansy boy follows us. I grab Gaara's hand and he gives me a reassuring squeeze. Glancing at the guy's user out of the corner of my eye as we walk. Shunshin16. He keeps close behind us and I know it's setting my brother on edge.

"Why don't you walk next to us Shun?"

"Shun?" He echoes.

"Short for Shunshin." I explain. "That's your user right?"

"How'd you know?"

"Top right of your screen. You'll see our names too. Are you gonna walk next to us or not? Having you behind us is annoying."

He quickens his pace so he's standing next to me, Ichi in his usual overprotective mode is glaring at him and I have to lightly elbow him to tell him to chill and _'I'm not gonna leave you. No one will ever separate us.'_

Because Gaara has only ever cared about himself and me. He's possessive of me in a brotherly way but because of his family he doesn't know, completely, how to deal with his feelings.

So, he becomes overprotective of me and doesn't like other guys getting close without his acceptance. We've both been hurt by men too many times in our lives to really trust them. Me by the man who murdered my parents and my foster parents, my god father by not being around all the time. Gaara by his brother, his father, and his Uncle. It's amazing I can trust Gaara as much as I do but he's so much like me it's impossible for me not to.

"It'll be alright nii-chan." I assure him. "It's only for a few minutes. Then we can go anywhere and do anything."

Ichi doesn't say anything but he nods slightly in agreement, placated.

"Really?" Shun exclaims, smiling. "Thanks so much! I don't know how I can say thank you for this."

"You just did." I point out, snorting under my breath.

"Oh yeah." Shun realizes, sheepishly rubbing at the back of his head.

"Let's start with basics then." I say, leading my brother and Shun to a grassy field outside of the town we'd been in.

We spend a bit of time showing Shun the ins and outs of his user menu and how to use the katana that he's chosen as his primary skill weapon. It seems his avatars stats are based on speed, and he's also a quick study so it isn't a pain to teach him.

After a while Shun starts attacking wild beasts like boars to up his stats and get more skills.

"Awesome." I tell him, watching him kill the last of the boars he's been fighting.

Shun's hands are on his knees and he seems a little winded but I can tell he'll be alright.

"Alright. My brother and I are gonna take off now that you got the basics down pansy boy."

"Awe man." He whines, anime tears streaming down his face. "You're still on that? I thought after you saw what I can do now you'd come up with something cooler."

Sand starts swirling around his feet as he tries to glomp me.

"I suggest you don't try to touch my sister." A cool voice instructs him.

Sand grabs Shun's legs and pull him away from me, yanking him with a yelp off of his feet and leaving the pansy boy hanging upside down. I mentally laugh, nii-chan will always be nii-chan.

 _'I knew I shouldn't have called him by his user…'_

"Sister?" Shun sputters. "That's got to be the most ripped chick I've ever seen!"

"He's a wicked cool big brother." I chuckle. "Protective but awesome. So don't pick on him or I'll have to hurt you."

"B-big brother!?"

"And I know I'm ripped. I'm just that awesome."

"As I said, do not presume to touch my imoto. You haven't earned the right." Ichi drops his head onto my shoulder as he half stands in front of me like a wall separating me from Shun.

"How are you even doing this in a peace zone?" Shun huffs, embarrassed.

Oh, did I forget to mention that Ichi and I are a little tech savvy? Meaning we found a few tiny loopholes we could exploit on certain floors? Oops.

My surrogate brother finally releases Shun so that the guy falls on his head into the grass.

"Oh ouch." I mutter.

Shun rights himself so that he's sitting with his legs crossed in the grass.

"Mean," He pouts. "But still, thanks you guys."

"No problem man." I shrug, offering an apologetic grin. "And, sorry I guess. That was kinda mean bro."

Ichi huffs slightly and pulls away from me to cross his arms. He's not going to say sorry but he is acknowledging what he did.

"We're gonna head out now. We wanna wander around, maybe cause a little chaos." I see Ichi smirk, sadistic bugger. "I think I'm going to head back into town. I was planning on meeting up with my brothers. They're good guys. Maybe you guys can hunt me down later on to meet them?"

I shake my head, no way would Ichi would like that idea. The man seems to pout before I see the figurative light bulb light up over his head. He moves close to me, kisses me, and runs off, amazingly before Ichi can kill him.

"Why would he kiss a chick that looks like a buff dude?" I wonder.

" _That's_ what you're questioning?" Ichi demands, a dangerous aura that I know isn't really there radiating from his person as he begins to glare, his eyes turning red.

"You know, I think he only did it as payback for dropping him on his head." I say, unable to stop snickering.

Ichi sniffs slightly, turning his head away as if to say "I'm not sorry". I know my brother is plotting pansy boy's, (or should I say soon to be headless boy's) demise as we walk towards the forest.

"So, we're going to need to level up and get a nice amount of cash before we can build our place. Same forest?" I ask walking backwards to meet my brothers gaze.

"Hm." He nods, glancing at my cheek where I was kissed and I know the thoughts are getting more creative.

"Nii-chan calm down. It's virtual reality. You know I don't trust anyone the way I trust you so chill your balls."

"I know. With everything we've been through together. All the people who fucked us over. You're the only one who understands me. The only one who fully accepts me and my past because you know the same pain as I. So after having someone finally accept me like you do, I feel strange when other men get close."

"It's jealousy Gaara. It's normal. After all the men who hurt us through our lives, even I'm wary of men getting too close to me. But I at least let them breathe next to me without threatening to kill them with my eyes. Not all guys are the same bro, you know it and so do I."

"I'm well aware Kyu." Ichi hums, eyes meeting mine. "I apologize."

"Me too bud. I don't like going all 'mom mode' on you."

Ichi snorts and lightly shoves my shoulder. I grin at him insolently, and we both begin going on our way, this time looking for a little trouble to spice up our play time.

* * *

 _~Gaara~_

* * *

About an hour and a half later, Kyu and I have made our way back into town, we're both a little on edge because thirty minutes ago we found that neither one of us had the option to logout of the game.

The sun is lowering behind the greenery of the forest, almost setting the trees alight like flames. The sky is an array of pinks, oranges, and golds above, clouds creeping across the sky with the small threat of rain.

"Ichi, what are we going to do?" Kyu whispers, voice holding steady but her eyes telling of uncertainty.

I see the worry in her avatar's bright blue eyes, and my stomach twists with dread because if Kyu is worried then there is something really amiss. I just shake my head slightly, a frown settling between my brows as my lips turn down.

"Let's head to the town square." I offer, taking the lead.

Kyu follows closely beside me, grabbing my hand as we make our way down the cobblestone road, between two buildings that form a shadowed alleyway.

"Hey Ichi," Kyu murmurs. "It looks like there's a lot of people in the square up ahead."

I do as she instructs and find that she's right, there seems to be a crowd of players already there, and from the sound of it, their chatters are very worried and confused.

"How much you wanna bet they can't find their logout option either?" Kyu mutters, grip tightening slightly.

I purse my lips and my eyes narrow as we draw closer. Kyu's free hand is resting on the katana at her avatar's hip and I'm ready to spring into action should any hint of trouble show itself, I can already feel my sand preparing itself to spring up and defend us from anything.

Kyu and I emerge from the shadows and make our way through the gaggle of players in the way.

"What's going on?" Someone demands.

"I dunno, but this sucks man I have to go to work tonight."

" _Work?_ I have a final I'm supposed to be studying for!" A girl screeches.

I don't react as Kyu's gloved hand squeezes mine again. I'm not sure of what I am going to do as the chatters continue on around us, but the choice to do anything but lift my eyes to the virtual sky is all that I am left with when someone shouts "Look up!".

A glitch distorts the air high above everyone's heads, and I watch alongside my sister as a large being cloaked in hooded red robes appears in a flash above us. A man's voice echoes around us, chilling my bones as he starts to speak.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba. This is Sword Art Online. As many if not all of you are now aware there is no logout button on your player menu."

Many people start muttering amongst themselves and a few people who apparently hadn't tried to sign out before now, now begin frantically checking their player menu.

"Shit. He's right. It's not here!" A man's voice shouts.

"How are we supposed to get out of here?" A girl shrieks.

"Please tell me you can fix this." A small voice comes from near us, a girl's voice.

"Silence. This is no accident. I have taken out the logout option from the menus. The only way to leave here now is by reaching the hundredth floor and defeating the boss."

"Wait, couldn't we just take the nerve gear off?" One man asks.

"No." I mutter. "The nerve gear would fry your brain if you tried that."

"Fuck that I want out!" A boy shouts, crossing his arms. "Why are you even doing this? You can't just keep us in this game!"

"Take a look." Kayaba intones.

Several news articles appear around the sky. A few videos play showing people crying as gurneys with white sheets covering a person are being carted away into an ambulance.

"Several people have already tried against the warnings I sent out to the families of all players. There are now five hundred less players than an hour ago."

"Oh my god." Someone whispers, voice ringing stark against the sudden deafening silence. "This man is crazy."

And then the panic spreads.

Everyone starts arguing amongst themselves, people are sobbing and begging, some are shouting angrily, others are falling to their knees in helplessness. But I don't focus on them, because I feel a tug on my arm.

I look at Naruto, tears are running down her face as she looks at one screen in particular. I look at the section that held her attention and was the cause of her tears.

"Ero-sennin..." She whispers, her voice breaking. I can practically feel her pain as the grip she still holds on my one hand tightens to unbelievable strength. Her god-father, the man who got us the nerve gear is on one of the screens, crying, punching the stone wall making up the outside of our apartment building. I see him walking inside and a chair goes flying out the window next. A camera crew is following him up, and I can't help viciously thinking _'vultures'_ to myself.

Jiraiya punches the wall leaving a hole, and begins throwing other chairs and a table at the crew once he notices them. I'm proud of him as he goes into the kitchen pulling a knife, or several, and expertly throws them at the crew. The camera turns showing the knife right next to where the man's head was, millimeters from where the camera lense ends. The look on the woman's face as she stares unbelievingly at the knife is priceless and I can't help but feel she deserves it.

 _'You just don't go into someone's house like that, not when something like this is going on and a man learns his god daughter is trapped in a virtual reality world, and he might not see her awake again.'_

I can see him yelling at them to get out several knives accompanying his threats showing he meant business, and more than a few swears are likely being said by him right now, tears streaming down his face.

There's a headline under it reading "MAN SWEARS TO FIND AND KILL KAYABA."

 _'I wouldn't expect any less of him.'_ I think, wrapping an arm around Naruto, pulling her into me as she cries. My sand catches her as her knees give out and I hold her as she gives into her grief and fears.

 _'Jiraiya must feel responsible. We wouldn't be here if he didn't get us the nerve gear. And... he knows Kayaba.'_

Jiraiya, being as emotional over Naruto as he is, must feel like complete crap, like his world just ended. But I know it isn't his fault, even without him Naruto and I would have gone out to get the nerve gear and game anyways. Naruto's head is buried into my shoulder by now but I can feel her try to pull back. I turn her head so she can't see the screen behind her, so she doesn't see Jiraiya like that because if she sees him like that one more time it'll break her heart, it'll destroy her.

I glance around the screens and I don't see my siblings anywhere, Jiraiya might be, no is, Jiraiya is the only man on the outside who would give a damn about me. But I do note Jiraiya breaking down the door to my apartment only for another chair to go flying out of a now broken window. I sweat drop.

 _'That man is going to destroy both our apartments in his grief.'_ I think, feeling a warmth in my chest at the notion that when we get out of this, because there's no doubt that Naruto and I will get out of here, both our apartments will be damaged and destroyed beyond repair.

"He cares for you too Gaara-nii. What you feel right now is love. You love Raiya-ji like family, just like me. I know he sees you as his family." She gives me a sad smile, and I squeeze her hand to let her know that I know.

And that's when I notice that I'm looking at Naruto, the blonde haired blue eyed girl and not Kyu, the towering red haired man of her avatar.

I look down and see that I am noticeably shorter than I was before, just as I am in the real world, the same average height as Naruto.

"We've reverted to our real bodies." I note.

My sister nods.

"There was a giant flash of light and suddenly everyone was turned back into their true forms." She tells me, voice soft.

As if on que, a teen hollers, catching our attention.

"What the hell? You're a guy!?"

"I can explain!" An old man in a revealing pink battlesuit exclaims, blushing as the younger man yanks his hand from his.

"Fuck you man, you're _sick!_ "

"Wait no please!"

The teen storms off, disappearing into the crowd, and the middle aged man he apparently broke up with just stood there like the fool he was in his perverted armor.

I tear my eyes away from the hideous sight as Naruto snickers at my side. I smile softly, spirits slightly lifted now that I see that she can still smile.

"That guy really is messed up for that." She mutters.

I just shake my head.

"This is coming from the girl who's avatar is a six foot two man that looks like he eats nails for breakfast?" I smirk, eyebrow raised.

Naruto throws her head back and cackles, a nice contrast to the panic and anger that surrounds us. When she calms herself, she lifts her free hand to thumb away her amused tears.

"It was different when I did it dude." She says. "I wasn't using it to get hot chicks or hot guys. I did it so I could look like a badass."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." I offer, ignoring the way she rolls her eyes.

I'm glad to see the earlier sorrow of watching her godfather grieve temporarily forgotten. Light slowly filtering back, her eyes are no longer the dim pools of blue they were when she watched her "Ero-sennin's" meltdown on tv.

"The journey of a thousand problems..." Naruto begins.

"Starts with a fucked up world and two outcasts." I finish our little saying. We've used it for as long as we've known each other. It always brings comfort when we say it.

"We've got a long road ahead of us." I tell her.

"Maybe," She allows. "But we're strong, ne brother? Let's do what we do best."

"Endure." I agree, nodding once. "And fight."

My sand swirls to life in agreement with us, playing with her golden hair making her smile a little as she softly laughs as we start heading down the road, picking up pace as we start to run.

"Come on, we should head to the next town and start earning money, gathering supplies. Think we should steal from the stores run by those virtually controlled people?" I ask.

"Don't know if the game will let us but it's worth a try."

I find myself nodding again, and we both leave nothing behind us as we set out on the beginning of another journey.

We will beat Sword Art Online. We will because we're Gaara and Naruto, and that's all we need to be to succeed.

"Wait for us, Ero-sennin." Naruto whispers.

I allow her this quiet moment as we move faster, just slightly closer to our goal than before. I feel determination welling up inside me as we move on.

It was the beginning of a new journey, and Naruto and I were ready to face it.


	2. Shattered Glass

Chapter 2: Shattered Glass

" _There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness but power. They are messengers of overwhelming grief and of unspeakable love."_

 _-Washington Irving_

* * *

 _'_ _How could this happen?'_ Was one of many thoughts that raced through his head as he ran through the streets. He had been sitting at a coffee house with a cup of peppermint tea and an english muffin with honey and jelly as he typed up an article about a hotel he had recently visited over in Paris. He had only gotten in a couple hours ago and had planned on visiting Naruto and Gaara later on today to surprise them and see how they liked their new game system.

* * *

~Jiraiya~

* * *

My cell rings, I check the caller ID and something tells me this isn't good even though I know this person. They had been my teammate during gym, my best friend all through high school and our childhood years. Though he still insists I haven't grown up? I answer the phone on the second ring.

" _Jiraiya."_ There is a hint of relief in his voice.

"Orochimaru… what's going on?"

" _I'll skip the formalities, Jiraiya. Kayaba has been acting strange for the past few days and there's a disturbance in the atmosphere around here."_

"What do you mean?" I ask, brows furrowing.

" _Something isn't right."_ Orochimaru hisses. " _That fool seems much more smug than he ought to be, considering how calm the labs have been. And there are reports coming in… about…_ complications _."_

"Alright, don't pussyfoot Orochimaru what's going on?" I ask, lips pursing.

" _I think Kayaba has done something. I think he added another element into the NerveGear…"_

I feel my heart stutter in my chest as my eyes widen, and I stand up just a little straighter as my muscles stiffen.

"What?" I snarl. "I gave one of those things to Naruto and Gaara, what kind of element are we talking here?"

" _The reports I mentioned… about the complications… and the strange air I feel at work nowadays,"_ Orochimaru paused, and I could almost see the little furrow that would crease between his brows as he frowned on the other end. " _I think Kayaba did something to make the NerveGear cause complications to users."_

"What the fuck are you saying?" I finally spit, losing my temper as panic writhes in my gut. "What are you telling me right now, Orochimaru?"

" _The reports,"_ My friend continues _. "People that use the NerveGear are falling into comas while still in the game. I think it's happened on purpose, do you understand? Right now the media is keeping it under wraps, but soon this will blow up once an investigation starts. There's something amiss. This is no simple coincidence… This isn't just faulty gear. Because as I said…"_

"Kayaba seems smug." I finish, scowling. "Sonofabitch!"

I hang up because I don't want to hear the placating words Orochimaru no doubt has for me. I don't care about anything because my heart is pounding out of my chest, and I'm rushing out the door, bowling over people as I rush towards my goddaughter and her surrogate brother's apartment. I run so fast everyone and everything is one giant blur.

 _'_ _Don't let anything happen to them. Please let them be okay. And pleasepleasepleasefortheloveoffuckinggoddontletthembeusingthenervegearrightnow.'_ Everything melds together in blobs of color as I sprint the several blocks to their house. My throat constricts and it hurts to breathe, hurts to blink, to heave a heartbeat at the mere thought of Naruto or Gaara being stuck inside the NerveGear with no way out.

 _'_ _Please.'_ I beg, but to no avail.

I reach the apartment complex and rush up the steps, taking them three and four at a time. I knock on the door after seeing the reporters in the driveway I'm not reassured when she doesn't answer. I start pounding on the door.

"Naruto! Naruto if you're home open up!"

I know where the key is usually… but right now I don't have the patience to find it and simply lean back and throw my foot against the door, breaking it open. The door flies off its hinges and I run into the bedroom. I spotted her shoes and bag near the door, so I know she's here.

 _'_ _Please just let my kid be listening to really loud music…'_

My hand lands on her doorknob after I reach the back of her apartment, I twist the cold metal, pushing the door open with more force than I know myself capable of.

I step into the room, my blood chilling in my veins as all the color drains from my face. I choke on my own breath as I fall to my knees in the doorway.

She's just laying there… in her pajamas, with the wretched thing on her head and she's breathing so subtly I almost can't see it. I don't know how long I remain there, deflated like some indecisive idiot, but… my knees finally regain strength and I stand up, dragging myself over to the kid I wish to god that I had done right by from the very beginning.

"Oh Naruto…" I choke, lips trembling as I reach a hand out, placing it on her shoulder because I'm too afraid to touch the helmet-like device encasing her head.

"Oh no." I say, as it hits me again, and instead of losing strength I'm filling up with it.

Filling up with rage so hot I absently wonder if I'll set the world on fire with it. I can't breathe it's so hot. I walk outside thinking stupidly that maybe being outside will make it easier to breathe, it doesn't, instead it only fills me with more rage. I turn and punch the side of the wall.

"AHHH!" Hot tears run down my cheeks as I punch the wall. The liquid pain isn't caused by the agony in my knuckles, but rather… my mind drifts back to my little girl. I feel the need to be right by her side at this moment.

I drop to my knees again, but this time by her side, like I always should have been. I grab her hand, my own trembling with grief.

"Please wake up baby. Please wake up. I'm so sorry baby girl. I'm so sorry. Please wake up. Jiraiya-ji will do anything you want. I'll quit being a reporter. You'll move in with me. I'll quit peeking at women. I'll run a marathon, do a billion cartwheels, wear green spandex or neon orange jackets and sweatpants like you used to if you just wake up baby."

I plead with her to wake up and she doesn't so much as twitch and I feel the urge to vomit.

 _'_ _No. Not puke. I wanna fucking kill someone.'_

But I don't dare lose it in here lest I accidently hurt her or worse…. bile actually does rise up at the thought of worse but I swallow it in favor of walking into the living room. My hand rests on the back of a chair for all of one second before it makes a pleasing crash as I send it flying out the window. I punch the wall, leaving a sizeable hole in it and I throw a couple more chairs before I note the camera crew that's standing in the doorway. How did they get in here? Who told them anything? Why are they just standing there watching me? Don't they know that there's a kid, _my_ kid in a freaking coma while they're standing out here being utterly useless? I just... I can't take this shit. And so, I scream.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" I grab the last chair and throw it.

They still haven't left.

"YOU BASTARDS! WHO SAID YOU COULD BE IN HERE?!" I grab the table and throw that but still they don't leave, if anything they seem to inch closer, excited at the idea of getting a new juicy scoop. I can see the overly pretentious headlines now, and it makes me equally as sick as I am enraged. But there's nothing large that's left for me to throw.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! NO ONE GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO BE HERE! GO! GET THE FUCK OUT!"

I grab a knife from the counter and, recalling all the lessons Orochimaru gave me about throwing, I quickly throw the knife with accuracy. I feel pleased as it lands just a hair's breadth from the camera woman's face. I throw a couple more knives and they all scramble out of the door like the flames of hell are biting at them. I breathe for a minute, trying to slow my aching heart that feels like it's beating fast enough to go mach ten.

 _'_ _It'll be okay.'_ I tell myself. _'I'll call Orochimaru and investigate. Naruto and Gaara will…'_ I freeze.

 _'_ _Gaara!'_

I only noticed one pair of shoes in the hall. I run outside and swing on the door frame so I don't overshoot and go off the balcony. I lean back and kick down the door to Gaara's apartment. Normally I would never in a million years do this lest I be met with several knives barely a hair from my head but this is different. I may tease Gaara but I truly do care for him, he's the one who watches out for Naruto while I'm working, they're siblings as far as anyone is concerned and I would have been proud to call him my son. I rush into his bedroom and I'm met with the same sight as Naruto. I grasp his shoulder. I feel the rush of dread and bile rising back up once more. I pray...

 _'_ _Please tell me this isn't really a NerveGear device, please let this just be a helmet that he wears to sleep as one of his quirks.'_

I gently shake his shoulder but I know it's futile, he's in a coma too. I walk into the living room and throw another chair out a window, this one Gaara's window, I grab a bat Gaara kept by his bedroom door and start swinging. I break the tv and throw it out the window. I put holes in the walls and I feel a couple firm hands on my shoulders as I head back into Naruto's apartment. I try to shake it off only for another couple hands to clamp onto my shoulder and try to pull me back. My ears are ringing with rage and I can't make out anything they are saying. I vaguely make out the red and blue flashing lights. More hands help in pulling me back and prying the bat away from my hands. I note silver hair and a grim look.

"Calm down Jiraiya. Destroying the place isn't going to help them at all." Kakashi says as he holds me firmly to the wall next to the door.

"Kakashi is right." The other one says, looking at him, I recognize that he's Shikaku Nara. "You are known for writing reviews of places meaning you have a lot of contacts. That means you can get those friends of yours to help you find a way to fix this. Instead of wasting time destroying the place."

I nod and they both loosen their holds on me. I note Shikaku whistle at the damage I've done before walking inside, and I follow him. I hear the soft movement of several feet, turning to look I see they're all from dogs, as two of them move to guard the stairwell from the vultures. I know should anyone who should not be here try to come up...well Kakashi's dogs are not known for their mercy. Only one heads up to our position, Kakashi enters the doorway an glances at the knife sticking out, this time he's the one that whistles and I see a faint nod of approval. Shikaku just raises an eyebrow and shakes his head but doesn't say anything.

"Alright first we have to get a medic here to care for them. Do you have anyone in mind?" I nod at Shikaku's question.

"I have one or two people in mind." An image of a woman with twin blonde pigtails flashes in my mind.

I pull out my phone and hit one on speed dial. It rings three times before I hear a familiar feminine huff.

" _Jiraiya?"_ Tsunade answers on the first ring, sounding oddly sharp. " _Where the fuck are you? I'm on my way asshole."_

My eyes are still raw from my previous tears, and my voice is gruff with exhaustion as I respond.

"Hime, I need a favor."

* * *

~ _Naruto~_

* * *

We know we can't stop. To stay is to not grow. To not grow is to not move forwards. To not move forwards is to not fight back, to not fight back is to remain trapped. Remaining trapped is to remain a victim, and here to wait to die by someone else's hands. So we must grow. We won't be the victims, we won't accept being chained in any one place. We _will_ grow and fight. We will stick together and show what happens when you mess with us.

I've never been one for really flowery words when it's not a super dire situation, 'cause, y'know, I've got a rep to obtain. But I know that sometimes I don't even need to say anything in order for Gaara to understand me.

He feels the determination that I do when I squeeze his hand in mine, and I smile at him because when life really sucks, that's what you gotta do. Smile and pull yourself through. Smile alongside the one that you have beside you. Not that I'd say that crap out loud, pfft.

 _'_ _Well, maybe I_ _would.'_

But not at the moment, it's too calm.

Gaara and I are running through spring green grasses, heading for the next town. We had spent a while in the Town of Beginnings, stocking up on supplies we would probably need for our trip, and now we were off. My weapon of choice, a super badass katana with a wicked edge and black hilt was firmly grasped in my hand, and Gaara, as usual wielded his "enchanted sand", which he carried on his back in a large beige gourd. My eyes are wide open and there's a grin threatening to split across my face because my blood is roaring in my ears and we're moving so fast the world is a blur at my peripherals, causing a few tears to leak from the burn of the wind rushing past us.

Just when I take a chance to blink, a boar tears out of the grasses ahead, eyes glowing red, tusks yellow and chipped, steam jetting from its flared nostrils as it starts barreling at us.

And this is why my blood is rushing. We've been stumbling across boars for a while now, so we've got to be on guard, and fighting in or out of a game always gets my blood boiling. It's a rush that I'm slightly guilty about admitting to liking. But Gaara is just the same if not slightly worse so I don't feel too bad about it.

We dodge out of the way, cartwheeling away from each other. I use the momentum gained as I turn into a landing to propel myself back towards the boar, Gaara doing the same. We strike at the same time, cutting the animal to pieces and gaining extra cash and XP.

"Not bad nii-san. I think we have killing wild boars down pat."

"Is it just me or is hunting boars getting boring?" He ask as I backflip over, Nii-chan is looking off into the distance again, looking up the clouds have gotten darker. ' _It's only a matter of time before rain.'_

"What are you thinking about nii-chan?" I let my gaze follow his. The sun is almost completely set, checking the current time it's around seven fifteen so no surprise there. The scenery is beautiful but I would prefer the view of my apartment window, ' _funny, normally I would love this view but now that I'm stuck with it I would give almost anything to have my apartment view back.'_

Normally around this time Gaara and I would be playing this one game with each other. A word game. I smile at the thought, because secretly we're both complete dorks like that, and as soon as we get out of this shitshow we're gonna go right back to the way things should be. Living how we choose.

"Let's go Naruto." He speaks up, eyes leaving the sunset and finding my own.

I grab his hand and run with him in the direction of the nearest town. "It's not wise for us to stay out trying to hunt in the dark, especially if it starts raining. If we can't make it to the nearest town then we can camp in a tree, but we should try to find someplace so animals can't get to us."

I nod, "Yeah, the animals in the forests here are pretty aggressive, remember in the beta where that one guy…" I trail off and start laughing at the memory.

Gaara chuckles too. One guy had angered some kind of weird tiger thing and ended up getting killed after it bit him in the… for messing with its cubs. It was amusing to see and good to know that even virtual animals are protective about their children.

' _Too bad our foster parents couldn't be like that.'_ I think grimly, only to receive a hand tightening firmly on mine in reassurance of 'I'm here, we're together.' and a sea foam green eye looking at me from its corner. I know Gaara knows what I'm thinking about and I smile and nod to tell him I'm okay.

"So we're checking into a hotel if possible right?" Nii-chan nods. "Then let's go." I run just slightly ahead and pull him with me. The green grass and trees blurring as we sprint. The clouds seem to stop and the sky is blazing orange at the horizon with the setting sun. I can see the lights of the town in the distance.

"Gaara I see the town!" I beam.

"Hm." He nods as he tries to keep up with my quick feet.

"Think we have enough for a hotel room?"

"We should. We caught several boars."

"It felt like several dozen." I snort, recalling that somehow, we ended up surrounded by boars. I know we were hunting, but somehow being surrounded is a bit ridiculous. I mentally sigh, trouble really is practically married to us and it's not our fault.

"Either way, it should be more than enough for a couple rooms. We'll be fine, worst comes to worst we just have to go get a few birds to gain a few extra coins."

"I hope they have food. I'm getting hungry." I mutter.

"That is a concern of mine. Food. Rest we can simply sleep in game and it should, in theory, keep us rested. Still… food isn't something we could eat here and have it fill us up in the real world." Gaara intones while holding his chin with his thumb and pointer finger as he thinks. I see where he's going, so I answer him.

"Yeah, but by now people know we're stuck in game so wouldn't they like, I dunno... take us to the hospital or something? That way they can keep us alive until we beat the game." I shrug, giving him an uncertain look.

"Naruto…" He trails off, face grim.

I sigh, thinking 'damnit' as I pull my eyes away from him, because I know where this is going… I know that we can only be fed in the real world by tube for so long… but still… I want to have hope. For now at least. I spy a bird in the distance- what I assume to be beautiful wings helping it to soar into the now almost completely darkened sky, it may only be an outline but it's still beautiful…

"Gaara look! That bird! Can you see it?" Looking at the bird it reminds me of this song I used to listen to while sitting on the school roof for lunch. The fact that it just started raining moreso. We let go of each others hands as we walk into the town.

' _How did it go?'_ I ask myself as I try recalling words I haven't listened to since before middle school.

' _It doesn't matter what's up ahead, anything's fine with you and me. I won't lose to endless rain. Smile through endless pain. As long as I can still stand up and fight again.'_

We finally make it into town, though a little worse for wear as we're both thoroughly soaked.

"Hey Ichi?" I whisper, switching back to our users as we agreed earlier that it might be wiser to use our users when in towns and true names when alone, thinking about tonight and where we are. I can't help my shaking.

"What is it Kyu?" He looks at me and his gaze turns worried but then I see realization and understanding. He grabs my hand once more and I notice the slight shaking in his hands.

"Can we share a room? Please? I don't want to be alone."

"I don't want to be alone either. I was going to ask the same thing." I smile at my brother's confession. We head to the woman at the counter who greets us.

"Hello! Welcome to the Inn." The NPC grins. "Will you two be needing rooms?"

"Yup." I chirp. "Can we have one room please?"

The woman blushes, reaching a hand up to cover her smiling mouth bashfully.

"Oh my," She giggles. "You two are..? But you're so young!"

"Oh ew lady, seriously?" I complain, face twisting at her hideous assumption. "He's my bro. We gotta watch each other's back. So, one room please?"

Gaara just shakes his head, staring at the inn keeper with a flat unimpressed look as she begins to sputter out apologies.

I pull up my menu and scroll through the prompts that pop up before my eyes, getting enough money to pay for our stay and a bit of grub.

"P-please excuse me." The woman says, still cherry red in the face.

I wave away her embarrassment, already way over it.

"It's chill, can we head up?" I ask, handing her the brown pouch of gold coins in my hand.

She cups her own and I place the sack of coins in them. After she slides it under her counter, she turns around to the board hung up behind her, peppered with push pins that have key rings dangling on them. After wavering for a bit she chooses one and turns back around, smiling slightly she reached back over to me. I see that the room key is a tarnished copper color with a brown leather tag on it, reading 10 in chipping white paint.

"Second floor on the right." The innkeeper offers.

"Thanks." I wink at her and accept the key, casting a look at Gaara who stands stoically at my side. "Let's roll bud."

I hold back a grin when I notice him stopping himself from rolling his eyes and he follows me as I leave the lobby, making my way towards the rickety staircase off to the right.

I find the room and unlock the door. The curtains are sky blue and the floor is a dark earthen color, kinda like a cherry color wood, and there's two beds in two corners of the room. There's a dresser and a closet for our small amount of stuff. I take a couple steps towards the bed...

* * *

 _~Gaara~_

* * *

I watch Naruto make her way towards the first bed, smiling fondly because she's grumbling about her tired feet.

I move to follow, but there's this odd noise that gives me pause. It's chilling and loud, like a cable suddenly being removed from a speaker, and the resulting feedback is a strange aborted cry. To my horror, my best friend freezes in her tracks, her form shimmers, her body reflecting the candlelight in the room, like a glass 2D cutout.

Naruto's body webs with cracks, and I watch, petrified as they travel across the surface of her person, branching off like a network of nerves before she begins glittering. She glitters with iridescent crystals, and then she shatters.

I can not describe the absolute terror that strangles me in that moment, watching Naruto's pieces scatter, flying in all directions and winking out of existence with pitiful little plinks.

I stand there for the longest moment, and my chest is tight because I've forgotten how to breathe.

"N-Na-"

I think my world ended before I could even comprehend that it had been obliterated. An eternity passes in the time that I stand, too shocked to do anything else but gape.

I can't speak another syllable, because I too, have become glass. I don't care when I feel my face crack in half. All I care about is Naruto, and her name is the last thing I think before I shatter in the night.

* * *

~Jiraiya~

* * *

" _Jiraiya?"_ Tsunade greets, sounding oddly sharp. " _Where the fuck are you? I'm on my way asshole._ "

My eyes are still raw from my previous tears, and my voice is gruff with exhaustion as I respond.

"Hime, I need a favor."

" _I know. Naruto and Gaara. Orochimaru called me after you hung up on him. Did you honestly not consider calling me sooner? Did you think I wouldn't immediately head over to help?"_

"I'm at Naruto and Gaara's apartment." I tell her, because I don't know how to answer her other questions. I don't want to, I just want to make things right for my little girl and Gaara. "It's 1014, Nanadaime Street."

" _Okay I'm on Nidaime right now, I'll be there in five."_

"What?" My eyes bulge, the sluggishness that's overtaken me lifting in an instant. "That's five blocks away. It's a fifteen minute drive because the streets are so long!"

" _I said I'll be there!"_ My Hime snarls.

I pause, hearing the screech of swerving tires on the other end, and Tsunade barking out several horrendous curses and bodily threats.

" _Get the fuck outta my way grandma!"_ She roars, the blare of a horn soon following.

I can't help it. I grin, laughing quietly as more tears well in my eyes, threatening to slowly trickle down my still bloodless face.

"Thanks Hime." I whisper, blinking away the liquid.

I knew I could count on her.

" _No problem."_ She says, and then there's a click. She's hung up. I stare at my phone's screen after a moment, and I notice that I have an email.

"Hm?" I hum, quickly checking it, wondering if it's reports Orochimaru found.

Knowing him, he's at the office trying to find all he can for me so we can get everyone out of this alive…But I'm surprised to see it's from SAO administration…

My eyes are wide, stinging as they follow the bland font across my phone's screen.

 _~Do not under any circumstances try to remove the Nerve Gear from the player. It will only send an electric shock to the players brain killing them if you do.~_

I feel my blood freeze. Trying to remove the head gear will cause them to die? What the hell are we going to do? How can we help them? If… if trying to take it off will kill them… how can we make sure they get out?

"Dammit." I growl, setting my watch by Tsunade's previous declaration. And sure enough, I can hear the aggressive clicking of her heels coming up the stairs five minutes after the call as she arrives along with her assistant.

"Hey Hime." I wave a little awkwardly, watching her near me as she reaches the hall. "Thanks for coming so fast."

"Of course you idiot, I said I'd be here. Did you think I wouldn't?" Tsunade huffs, affronted. But she sobers quickly and says, "We're friends aren't we? Lead the way."

I lead her into Naruto's room first, Shizune following closely behind her.

"I got an email from the administration of that damned game. We can't remove the nerve gear or it'll kill them."

"How?" Tsunade is quick to ask before sighing, "There must be some kind of chip in the helmet somewhere."

I make a noise in agreement. "I remember him saying something about the technology being needed to be near the back of the neck. It would emit a signal that would tap into the frequency of the signals the brain sends and receives to allow the players to interact with everything in game as if it was the real world."

They take time to study the cables connecting to the headset. Tsunade takes Naruto's vitals.

"Alright, I need a car parked closer to the steps outside so I can get them to the hospital." She turns, asking with a sweet tone of voice "Kakashi, think you can arrange something?"

Kakashi nods, his single visible dark eye sharp.

"I drive a Sedan." He informs her. "We can take that. It should be big enough to fit both Naruto and Gaara inside." He starts barking orders to a grunt outside with a call of:

"Tenzo! Get my damn car over to the bottom of the steps."

"Aye Aye senpai!" Comes a sputtered reply.

Kakashi throws the keys over the balcony and the kid goes to get the car.

Tenzo is a good kid who is always quick on his feet and has great respect for Kakashi. I know he won't do anything unless Kakashi orders it so I know he can be counted on. He's always eager to live up to Kakashi's expectations. I recall once Kakashi ordered the kid to go after this one imbecile who tried making off with his porn. The little bastard took off after the guy so fast my head spun, and I swear I didn't know a chokehold could make someone turn that shade of purple. But hey, there's a lesson in every day of life.

Don't fuck with Kakashi when he has an awesome Kohai.

Kakashi actually bought the kid dinner after that. Suddenly I'm pulled from my thoughts, because sure enough it's only two minutes, (well a minute thirty seconds later), that Kakashi's car is pulling up and backing up so the doors are facing the stairwell.

Shizune and Tsunade have me lead the way to Gaara's room where they do the same vital check and inspect the helmet wires and connectors.

"Alright. I believe we've found a way to get the kids out of the apartment and to the hospital without frying their brains. It's going to be tricky and I'm going to need all hands available. There isn't any room for error. I don't want those vultures getting too close either. Kami only knows that they would use the opportunity to get their story."

Kakashi gives a vicious grin. Shikaku sees the malicious look and smirks before speaking up for the first time in a while.

"Well, I don't think you have to worry too much about the vultures. If that smirk on Kakashi's face is anything to go by... Can't even see his full face, hell can't see anything but his hair and one eye but we all know the possessive sadistic bastard is smirking. We'll all help you transport the kids. Kakashi…"

Shikaku waits for Kakashi to turn to him with an eye smile and a pleasant hum… a familiar pleasant hum… one that spells trouble for whoever decides to press their luck.

Shikaku sighs.

"I already have a very good idea of what you're planning. You need my approval right?" Kakashi nods and Shikaku sighs again.

"Troublesome, this is going to cause me so much paperwork."

"You're really worried about paperwork?" I ask.

"The more paperwork I have, the less I can help follow leads to find Kayaba or help the investigation to get these kids back." He responds, picking up on the undertones of offense I'm feeling.

I nod, satisfied with that answer. Shikaku turns to Kakashi, giving his own nod to his subordinate.

"Go for it." The Nara drawls. "You got the green light."

Kakashi's eye turns absolutely feral at that, and he goes into his pocket, pulling out a smartphone and sliding it open with his thumb, turning to stroll down the hall after typing for a bit. He puts the device to his ear, his cool voice trailing off as he strides further and further down the hallway.

"Yeah, Gai?" He speaks. "Not now Gai I don't want to hear about your burning passion. I need you to drive over the rest of my dogs. What? No, I'm not trying to have them scare Tenzo again. Yes. Yes, it's a serious situation. Are you drunk again? No. Stop, can you just be quiet and… Jesus Christ Gai…"

After about two minutes he turned around, all the way at the end of the hall, and made his way back, his eyelid drooping in an exasperated manner that only Gai could be responsible for.

"Everything will be set up by the time we get them to the hospital." Kakashi says. "Let's move."

We all head back in, Tsunade has a large leather bag at her feet, and she's pulling out beeping black devices with black cables coming from both ends.

"Hime?" I ask.

"A portable battery." She explains. "Orochimaru told me about his suspicions. I don't want any hiccups in this operation, and if we really want to help these kids we need to be as careful as possible."

Shizune is kneeling by an outlet beside Naruto's bed, and I can see that the Nerve Gear is connected to the outlet.

"Shizune," Tsunade barks.

"Y-yes Tsunade-sama!" The younger woman stutters.

"I need you to unplug Naruto's game and plug it into this battery as soon as possible. I'm going to be making sure she won't need anything like CPR."

"Of course." Shizune nods, lips pursing as her expression becomes determined.

But I don't take the orders as gracefully.

"What!?" I blurt, heart stuttering in my chest. "You're gonna unplug her? Are you crazy!?"

"Jiraiya," Tsunade growls, honey eyes fierce. "We do not have time for this. How long do you think she can survive in her room without proper nutrition and monitoring? It'll just be for a second. Unplug, replug. How else would we get her to the hospital? The Nerve Gear needs a powersource."

I swallow hard, because I know she's right, but I'm scared. I've never been so scared in my life.

If this got messed up, Naruto could die. I would have to put my little girl in the ground. That's not something I ever want to have to do. I know that it only takes a second. Just a split second for someone to die. Sometimes one wrong move in a moment is all it takes.

My knees feel weak. And finally, I blink.

I'm surprised, because Tsunade is no longer glaring at me. Naruto, my little Naruto, is in my Hime's arms, carried gently in the master surgeon's deceptively strong arms.

Shizune is close behind them, carrying the battery with a trailing chord that's connected to the monstrosity encasing Naruto's head, keeping her alive.

 _'_ _When… when the hell did they…?'_

I slap my cheeks. What had happened? The sting of my hands on my face wakes me up even more. I shake my head, following Tsunade and Shizune as Naruto is carried out of the apartment.

Had I really blanked out? God I was pathetic. I need to get my head in the game. Naruto needs me to be strong. So, with that in mind I take a deep breath, steeling myself.

This would be the last time. I wouldn't let such weakness overtake me again.

I wait at the top of the stairs, watching Tsunade and Shizune leave the building to gently put Naruto in Kakashi's Sedan.

I turn and make my way back to Gaara's apartment, and I'm waiting in the slumbering boy's room when Tsunade and Shizune return. Shizune has another battery in her hands, and Tsunade maneuvers her way around me to check on Gaara.

She does another vital check, nodding to Shizune to go ahead with the wires connected to the Nerve Gear. A hand is clamped on my shoulder.

"Shikaku?"

"Breathe Jiraiya. Don't think I didn't notice you freeze up with Naruto. Breathe. Tsunade is the best for a reason. She won't let anything happen to either your daughter or your son."

"They're not.."

"Not by blood but does that even matter? I know Naruto would talk about her reporter father who sends her presents whenever she would stop by the station with Gaara. When they talked about you they smiled. They never smile like that when talking about any other male. Tsunade won't let anything happen to them. She's a professional and she's the best. On top of that you've got Kakashi and half my freaking precinct who will help guard her and Gaara from anyone trying to get a scoop."

His hand tightens just the tiniest amount. It's an anchor that I wordlessly appreciate.

"Kakashi cares about Naruto and Gaara too. You know the respect my men have for Kakashi. If he wants something done, even without my orders I have no doubt they'll make sure it happens. I can't tell you how many times I've told them to not have pizza parties during their lunch break. Only for the next week for them to have a pizza party because Kakashi arranged it and everyone went along with it."

I snort at that thought.

"Exactly. My men respect Kakashi, and Kakashi cares for Naruto. With how often Naruto and Gaara stop by to deliver food or help out, do you think anyone is going to let them be hurt? You've got Orochimaru looking into every possible crevice of the office trying to find exactly what was done and how to reverse it. You have us. Don't worry."

"Thanks Shikaku." I croak, clearing my throat after a moment to give him a slightly strained smile.

"Now, let's go help out with pushing everyone back so they can get the car out." Shikaku says. "You can ride with them providing Tsunade allows it. Tenzo and I will give you the five alarm escort."

I follow along and shove back a few of the reporters, Tenzo helps to set up barricades so the car can get out because tape isn't enough to hold these guys back. I try not to grit my teeth at some of the questions these people are blurting with no regard for how disrespectful they're being.

"Jiraiya!" Tsunade calls out to me. "Let's go, we're heading out."

"Tenzo!" Kakashi's voice comes over the crowd. "I'm trusting you to help make sure all cars are out of the way."

"You can count on me Kakashi." Tenzo hops on his motorcycle as I enter the car. Kakashi in the driver's seat, Shizune next to him. The back seats are down and Naruto and Gaara are both lying slightly elevated on the seats. I hop into the farthest point in the back by their heads in the open trunk, Hime sitting in the middle seat by their waists. She's carefully holding each of their batteries still in her hands.

The car drives off and I can hear the sirens. Tenzo speeding on his motorcycle to stop several cars from entering the intersection and getting in our way. Crazy kid at one point skids just to stop a delivery truck. The whole way I wish I could card my hands through their hair, rub circles on their forehead, but I cant because the damn helmets cover their faces too. So I settle on just holding their hands as we make the way to the hospital.

The way there is literally a blur, because Kakashi is driving like the maniac everyone speculates he is behind his back, and I couldn't be more glad for it. Finally, Kakashi smoothly lulls his driving to a stop, and we're parked in front of Konoha Hospital, the place of Tsunade's work.

"Shizune." Tsunade calls. "Get out and go get some specialist from the emergency room to help up with these kids. We're going to need stretcher's and strong arms."

"Hai Tsunade-sama!" Shizune answers, opening her side of the car's door and hopping out, sprinting through the glass double doors of the hospital.

"Alright, Jiraiya, I need you to get out too." Tsunade says. "I'll stay in here with them until the doctors arrive."

I nod and do as she says, not wanting anything to go wrong.

To my relief it doesn't take long for Shizune to come back, she holds one of the hospital doors open, and four people in pastel blue scrubs rush out with stretchers.

Shizune points to the car where their soon to be patients reside and I wave them over, wanting to cry again because it looked like things would be okay. The doctors come over and I get out of the way, watching Tsunade take control and inform them of the situation. They help putting Naruto and Gaara on their respective stretchers and quickly wheel them into the hospital.

We're all hot on their trail. Save for Kakashi, he stays behind with the squad cars and vans out front to help set up a barricade.

I'm allowed to follow all the way until Naruto and Gaara are wheeled through the ominous steel double doors separating the ICU from the rest of the hospital.

Tsunade looks back at me.

"Wait here." She says. "Don't worry, I won't leave their side for a second."

I nod at her, swallowing as she disappears behind the swinging double doors. Shizune stands at my side, giving her silent support.

I stand in the sterile, soulless white halls of Konoha Hospital, and I wait.

Sadly, that's all I can do for now.

* * *

 **Next time on Outcasts:**

" _ **Look at the stupid fucking doughnut getting mauled by Pakkun."**_

 **Kamui: So stayed tuned, because we're gonna be revealing the stupid fucking doughnut next chapter. Oh! And thanks for reading Outcasts. *blows a kiss***

 **Nin: Kamui is the genius who came up with that line and what follows after, I am lucky to be working on this with her and lucky that she puts up with my insanity. I am grateful to those of you who read this and review. I am also the little asshole who got her to take out the rest of that sentence for this preview. Till next time Ja ne~**


	3. Then There Were Three

**We don't own SAO or Naruto, please support the official releases.**

* * *

 _"Find the strength to see this through. We are the ones who will never be broken."_

 _-Soldiers, Otherwise_

* * *

 _~Ero-Sennin~_

* * *

We arrived at the hospital. They had carefully carted my kids…. my kids away under the watchful eye and thorough care of Tsunade, and into the ICU ward. Tsunade will do anything and everything for them. To me when it comes to my kids, money is no problem. I'll pay any cost, do whatever to see them awake again. To see them fully alive again.

Now I sit in the waiting room with Shizune quietly sitting at my side. It's been over an hour, but I'm not watching the time pass that closely because I know it'll only make me more paranoid to follow the hands of a clock.

"Jiraiya-san, what do you think is happening right now?" Shizune suddenly murmurs, studying with those shrewd dark eyes of hers.

I drag air into my lungs, and slowly exhale, regretting it slightly because everything smells sterile and antiseptic.

"I'm not sure." I admit quietly. "It's been awhile. If something went wrong I'd have been informed already, so my guess is that Tsu is making them more comfortable and preparing for anything that could happen while they're here."

And Kami how long will those poor kids be here? Shaking my head slightly, I silently tell myself not to think about it. When that time comes, I'll worry about it.

"They're strong kids." Shizune declares firmly, suddenly smiling softly.

I turn my head to look at her more clearly, eyebrows raising slightly on my forehead. I can't help chuckling quietly.

"Are you comforting me, Shizune-chan?"

"I am." She allows, giving me a wry look, shrugging. "But they are, Jiraiya-san. They are very strong kids, with bright futures. This won't be enough to keep them down."

I'll admit, I'm warmed by her words, and the fact that she felt the need to share her thoughts with me. She's a good kid. Not so much a kid anymore, but still…

"If I were ten years younger, I'd ask for your hand." I grin.

Shizune sputters, as I intended, face lighting up like a radioactive tomato.

"J-Jiraiya-san! Honestly what are you even-"

She cuts herself off, and there's no telling where that stuttered response would've gone, but the somber mood is slightly less heavy, and I'm glad for it. I'm laughing again, still more subdued than what I'm known for, but I'll digress. Shizune really is a good kid, and she's cute.

" _Hmph!_ " She settles on, turning her nose up.

"Jiraiya-san!" Someone calls, pulling the both of us from our current conversation (or the remains of it).

"Yes?" I'm already standing, turning to meet eyes with the young man coming to greet me. He's in blue hospital scrubs, a hair net- which he pulls off as he addresses me, the surgeon's mask he is wearing already pulled down around his chin.

"Tsunade-sama permits you to see them now." He says, giving me a smile.

For some reason, even in the bland air of the hospital, my airways seem more clear than they've been in ages, like I'd been slowly failing to breathe for a long period of time, and only that news was enough to save me from my inevitable demise.

"Come this way," He says, motioning for me to follow. "You can come as well, Shizune-san."

Shizune stands up, nodding and scurrying after us. Finally I look at my watch, noting the ungodly hour. Hospital visiting hours are over. I shake my head slowly, willing away a fond smirk.

 _'That's my Tsu.'_

Shizune and I are escorted to a room on the left side of the hall, and it's large. The walls are a horrid soft yellow, and the lights are bright yet soulless. There's a large window that is actually glass doors on the right side of the room, closed, and shielded by white curtains that are half open. I know there's a balcony beyond that, and I know I'll be spending a lot of time out there when I need air.

Naruto is in a white hospital gown that she would throw a fit over for the utter lack of orange on it, and that cursed Nervegear is still encasing her skull as she slumbers in a bed on the left side of the room. Gaara is wearing the same getup, the same horrible device on his head as he sleeps in a bed across from her on the right. He'd hate the gown as much as Naruto. He never liked showing too much skin, and it made him seem smaller than he was. Childish.

 _'My kids…'_ I think, shoulders slumping.

Kami, if anyone lets me get my hands on Kayaba he'll be in a shallow grave and I'll be behind bars. I'd be behind bars all too happily for the chance to beat the ever living hell out of him. That shit stain gave me the nerve gear, even when he was planning this.

Both of my kids are hooked up to that awful game, and wires trail from the helmets to outlets near the wall behind their respective beds. Tsunade is standing at the foot of Gaara's bed, jotting down things on a clipboard before she tucks the pen she's using into a pocket on the lab coat she's donned. She hangs the clipboard on a hook protruding from the bed, and lets it hang. I absently note that there's a similar clipboard hanging from Naruto's bed, the papers on it filled out already. Shizune stands at my side, the doctor that escorted us here has already left and closed the door behind himself.

With a sigh, Tsunade turns to look at me, her honey eyes tired, but I see relief in them, and it softens me. If Hime is relieved, I know I have a right to be too.

"They're going to be alright for a while yet." She speaks up. "There's no sign of their vitals dropping anytime soon, their blood pressure is normal, and their brainwaves are active. I hooked them up to I.V's so they don't run the risk of dehydration."

"Thank Kami." I breathe.

Tsunade clears her throat. Loudly.

I smirk at her, amused by her dry expression as I say, "Of course I was referring to you, Tsunade-hime."

She snorts at me, and somewhere in the back of my mind I wonder how she can still manage to be pretty being that unflattering.

"You're an idiot Jiraiya." Tsunade says, as she has on numerous occasions before. "But… you're welcome."

We're just going through the motions. We both care about those kids laying in those bland sheets, but we also both realize that now the hardest part is over. All there is to do now is wait for them.

Wait for them to come back to us.

"Knowing you, there is no leaving unless it's to go meet people who will have information you want. I'll arrange for a cot to be brought in for you to sleep here. On one condition…" Her tone says there's no negotiating.

"What's the condition?"

"When you go to meet with someone who may have information… _bring me with you…_ "

Her smirk is evil, promising pain to me if I refuse and to whoever decides they may not want to talk. While I may be no slouch when it comes to getting answers… they say women have a way with words, it might work in my favor. If one of my tactics doesn't work, one of hers might.

 _'Doctors at this hospital have a way of holding a conversation… Tsunade especially… that's almost like a politician. Going around a topic to get the same answer.'_ I blame the fact that Tsunade's grandfather was in politics.

I grin and nod at her request. I must admit that I'm surprised her condition isn't the "you better eat and sleep regularly" that one would expect from a doctor. Wait… of course… I forgot who I'm talking about. Then again, I'm no use to these two if I'm hungry and tired. We both know it. So…

"Hey hime? When is food being brought in? I'm not hungry but still…"

"You know too well by now. I'm not hungry either right now but…" Tsunade trails off.

"Yeah." We both agree. "If we don't eat then we won't be able to help them."

"I'll go get some food M'lady." Shizune offers. "I know of a place that sells food right around the corner. It's run by the Akimichi. The food is to die for." She smiles. "I know what you two like. I'll be right back with it."

She heads out to get the food, and as she leaves I see the green shirt collar of Might Gai.

"Jiraiya? Tsunade? Permission to enter?" Kakashi's voice comes through.

"Come in." I call and he and Gai enter the room. Gai is quiet as he enters, fully aware of the situation. He has always been good at being what people need. Strangely enough, Kakashi has a small pug in his arms, and the dog looks strangely drowsy, wearing a police issued bandana over his floppy ears. Tsunade shoots the lax man a dirty look for bringing a dog into a sterile area but it's not addressed any further than that.

"Alright." Kakashi says. "I already told Gai about the situation. He's going to be helping me to make sure that the room and hospital are secure."

Gai gives me a slightly goofy salute and I nod at him in acknowledgement, mouth twitching slightly because I don't want to laugh at him. Kakashi places the pug on the floor, and the dog just sort of melts down and lays there.

"Forgot to mention you had a twin, Kakashi?" I ask, waggling my eyebrows.

"Ha. Ha." The cop drawls, slouching over to one of the glass doors and opening it, pushing it just enough so that air can come through.

"This is Pakkun." Kakashi states, walking back over and motioning to his lazy dog. "He'll be watching out for Naruto and Gaara with you. He's impeccably trained. My best dog actually."

I know in a minute my eyebrows are going to fly off of my head, and judging by the dry look Kakashi is training on me he isn't very amused by my reaction.

"What?" I huff, suppressing a snort. "I didn't even say anything."

"You honestly don't have to." Tsunade says when Kakashi continues to give me a droll eyed stare.

"Pakkun my friend, what troubles you so?" We all turn to look at Gai, who had uttered the awkwardly worded inquiry.

Then we look at Pakkun, because the dog isn't lazing about anymore, he's standing on all four of his (admittedly cute little) legs, nose twitching slightly. The dog begins moving across the polished tile floors, making his way to the glass doors that Kakashi stands nearest to. I blink in apprehension as the little pug squeezes his way through the opening his master has created, and disappears from sight.

"If that dog does his business in my hospital, Jiraiya will be having Pakkun Dumplings for dinner Kakashi-brat."

"Tsunade-sama, he's better trained than that. He just likes fresh air, that's why I cracked the door." Kakashi assures her, though I'm sure I see a bit of sweat trickle down the side of his head.

"Wait," I say, offended. "Why would I be the one eating the dog?"

"Shut up Jiraiya." Tsunade grumbles, but I can see the smirk she's holding back.

I just grin, because honestly. I love these guys.

"Did you hear that?" Gai asks, bringing the attention back to himself.

"Hear what?" Tsunade asks.

"Shh, I heard it too." Kakashi mutters, left hand lifting, brushing the handgun he has holstered at his side.

The humorous veil that had fallen over the room is blown away as Kakashi motions for us to stay back, pulling his gun and creeping towards the door.

 _"Shoo!"_ Comes a quiet hiss.

I stiffen.

 _'What the hell…?'_ I think. _'Is… is someone out there?'_

Tsunade takes one step forward, but Gai holds up a hand and it stops her in her tracks. We wait with baited breath as Kakashi slides the door closest to him open farther, and before he can do anything else, a high pitched scream chills my blood.

My jaw drops as a gray haired young man with round spectacles on his face comes tearing ass into the room, Pakkun hanging from the crotch of his pants, the little razors he has for teeth clenched in the fabric of the guy's britches and… ahem, a very delicate bit of man that should never be put through such suffering.

The gray haired guy drops the camera in his hand, and the lense shatters. Kakashi and Gai are left gawking as the man runs around like the idiot he is with a dog chewing on his balls.

"Look at the stupid fucking doughnut getting mauled by Pakkun." Tsunade deadpans, walking towards the distressed stranger.

Before any more madness can ensue, she lifts her leg up with surprising agility, and swings it around, her foot slamming into the intruders temple, knocking him out cold.

"Did he really think sneaking up to the balcony to get some pictures would work?" She wonders, watching him crumple to the floor in a heap.

Kakashi, cooly slides his gun away, but ruins the image when he reaches up to scratch at the back of his head, studying the man out cold on the floor. Gai is looking at hime with sparkles in his eyes.

"Tsunade-sama, your flames of youth are a burning inferno that even I could not hope to match."

"Uh, thanks I guess." She offers, looking slightly uncomfortable.

Life really sucks right now. But I can't help it.

I throw my head back and laugh to tears.

* * *

 _~Gaara~_

* * *

It's bright. Billions of lights dancing around me. No. Not lights. Little flames of life.

 _'There's so many of us here. Us… Naruto…'_

I try looking around. But I can't distinguish between one person's flame and another. Just as suddenly as I am here I am not. Suddenly I'm looking at the front of the hotel Naruto and I checked into again.

 _'What in the hell just happened?'_

"Gaara?" A voice asks, I turn towards it and I'm shocked to see...

"Naruto? But I saw you… You…"

My mind is racing with what just happened. Possibilities running through my head and several are immediately dismissed due to pure impossibility. I suddenly realize that Naruto and I are walking back up the steps to our room, both of us shaking slightly. We just hold onto each others hand. Enjoying the touch of the other, of feeling the other, of the reassurance that we're both still alive.

"Did you see it too?" I ask. "All the flames?"

"Yeah." She says breathlessly. "There were so many. They were all players. They're all trapped here just like us."

"So it wasn't just me then." I say, my voice still low, my grip on her shirt tightens.

"I saw you shatter. Normally when a player shatters then it means they're dead..."

"But we're not dead." She completes.

"Exactly. I have a few theories on what happened. I saw a couple people in the street." I say as I walk out to the balcony. There's still several bodies littering the cobblestone. "Looks like everyone is still asleep."

"What the hell happened?" She asks, I check the clock and discover we were out of it for a good five minutes. "Alright, you said you saw me shatter. What I remember is feeling like my head was going to explode. Then I was surrounded by the life flames of other players. Next thing I know I'm outside this place with you again."

"I had a few theories. Seeing this confirms one of them and eliminates others. Remember how we saw Jiraiya outside our place when Kayaba was showing how the world was reacting to everyone being trapped in game? He's your godfather right?"

"As far as I'm concerned he's my father. He may not have been there but once he learned about my life he did his damndest to make it better." She says, hand placed on her waist, hip slightly popped out.

I think about all the people in our lives and who Jiraiya has connections to.

"There's him. But what about your godmother?"

Naruto raises an eyebrow, curious about my question.

"Tsunade?" By the tone in her voice she already knows where I'm going with this.

"Yeah, she's a doctor isn't she?" I nod. "What are the odds that Jiraiya called in Tsunade once he got his head on straight. I think he called her to start working on making sure our bodies, our real bodies would stay alive."

"Yeah. Knowing Tsunade-baa-chan she was probably already on her way over once she heard the news." She says, giving me a shit eating grin. "I know that Jiraiya and Tsunade will do everything possible to make sure we're alright in real life."

I hum pleasantly.

"My theory is that what happened is the result of those of us being transported to hospitals. Think about it. Our real bodies need water, food. Only hospitals can provide that for us now."

"It probably happened when she had to disconnect us from the wifi." Naruto muses. "The nervegear has a built in battery in case of power outage right?" she asks, I know she doesn't expect a response so I don't give one. I just listen as she continues her train of thought.

"The nerve gear intercepts signals from our brain to our bodies. As long as the nerve gear has power it can still intercept our brain signals. However if the wifi was to be disconnected…"

"Then while we would still be alive the fragments of our data would momentarially collapse." I finish the theory. "Yes, that does seem to fit with what happened."

We both agree and continue to just get ready for the night. However with the memory in my head of watching Naruto shatter… I know it will be difficult to sleep.

Naruto blows out the flickering flame sitting atop the candle that's lighting the room from the dressers between our beds. I sit down on my own, pulling up my player menu to remove my boots as Naruto does the same from my line of sight.

"Hey Gaara?" She calls, her voice soft.

"Hm?"

"Were you scared?" She whispers.

I freeze, but it's fleeting and I get up to walk over to her bed to sit beside her. It's amazing how she can unconsciously just know what's wrong with me at any given moment. I absently wonder why I'm surprised, but know that Naruto will continue to surprise me until the day I die. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

"I'll never forget it." I say.

I don't directly answer her question, but we both know what I'm saying. She takes my hand and squeezes slightly, silently pushing her strength into me. I squeeze back, offering my own strength, and we both feel better for it.

"I won't either." She quietly admits.

Instead of answering, I reluctantly pull my hand from hers so that I can start getting under the covers. My friend follows my lead, and we lay side by side, as we have many times even in the real world, when our own personal horrors kept us from sleeping. I turn on my side so that I'm facing Naruto, and she does the same, throwing her arms around me so that she can snuggle into me.

I wrap my arms around her, resting my chin on top of her soft hair.

"Goodnight Naruto." I murmur.

"Night brother." She returns.

I close my eyes and try to sleep. I know she does the same.

* * *

A week later the sun filters through the windows. I note that there's a warm comfortable weight on my chest, legs tangled in my own and hair covering one of my eyes…. and it tickles my nose, damn it. I move the only free hand I have to remove the hair from my eye and nose. During that time Naruto and I have leveled up to level 92.

We hunted boars, rabbits, birds.

We managed to acquire new cloaks that my sister said, and I quote "We look badass in these. Bro we gotta get them. Please Nii-chan?"

Not ever being able to resist those blue eyes that sparkle with mischief, we got them. Honestly, Naruto is so devious sometimes. She only acts cute like that when she wants something. It's always "Nii-chan" instead of "bro" or "brother" if she wants something. But I wouldn't change it. I think it's charming in that obnoxious but lovable Naruto sort of way.

We're currently walking around the market place shopping for supplies we can't hunt for. Naruto is starting to hum a song that was on the radio before all this started. One that seems to fit the two of us quite nicely.

"Are you insane like me? Been in pain like me?"

She starts to sing. Her voice is light and is easily carried away with the background noise of everyone moving about.

We stop by a store and start to try to find some of what we need however, something feels wrong. I look at Naruto and know she feels it too, judging from how straight her back is and how her eyes are narrowed. We stand still for a moment, I close my eyes and know instinctively that Naruto is the same as we listen carefully to what's around us.

 _'People chattering aimlessly. Someone just dropped a crate of oranges. One guy is trying to hit on a girl and failing miserably at it. Nothing to... wait. There!'_ I finally hear it.

"Someone help. Ah!" The voice belongs to a child from the sound of it.

One look to Naruto and I already know what we're about to do. Because we've both been there before, in that place where you call out for help and no one comes to rescue you. And sometimes, if someone did come... whoever came running was someone who was going to hurt you even worse. We want to be people who come with good intentions. No matter how many bad things have been done with our hands, they will never be used with ill intent towards a child.

We were once children. Begging for a hand only to be slapped away. Nearly giving up on everyone before we found each other.

We are both moving in sync, rushing towards the cry of dismay. Naruto draws her sword, a black bladed katana with no guard and an orange hilt, and I do the same, mirroring her movements as I grip my own weapon, a katana that is the twin of Naruto's save for the red hilt.

We dart down the cobblestone path, bending a corner that is devoid of the afternoon's sunshine rays. We enter a darkened alleyway, and I am sadly not surprised to see seven goons that look like they were womped with Kami's ugly stick at birth surrounding a young boy, no older than eleven. The men are various sizes, but all several times bigger than the tan brown haired boy that they're harassing. One of the thugs had the boy seized by the front of his plain black shirt, holding him several inches off of the ground. The kid is wincing, trying in vain to lighten the man's hold on him.

"Lemme go!" The boy snarls.

"Not until you empty those pockets brat." Responds the thug holding him captive, his six companions leering insidiously from the sidelines.

"I told you I don't have anything!" The kid huffs, yanking more aggressively at the thug's meaty hand.

"Aww, don't be like that." A lanky thug with several missing teeth croons. "We know you have at least one pretty penny."

Naruto and I have stopped running, and instead we're creeping up behind the group.

"And if I did you'd take that?" The kid retorts, his voice rising incredulously.

I'll admit I find it kind of amusing how he mouths back at them. It reminds me of Naruto. Speaking of my sister, I cast a blank stare at her, because frankly the guys we're about to ambush are complete imbeciles. She reflects the same unimpressed blankness back at me before the side of her mouth hitches up in a smirk.

I pause, waiting for the tell tale flame-like golden glow that lights up Naruto's shoes when she uses her original skill, the 'Ghost Step'. It's completely rare, as there was only a two in three hundred chance for a player to get it when the beta testing was still ongoing. Naruto is one of two people who have it. The other, we're unaware of, but I'll say this.

Naruto knows exactly what she's doing when she uses her skill.

And anyone on the receiving end of her using it always ends up wishing they just stayed in bed that morning.

I watch gold light spill around her ankles and flare up, moving like silk ever so slightly to a breeze that isn't there, she takes one step, her right boot touches the ground, and she's gone.

I'm already moving again, running the fastest I can go towards the boy and the thug that's got ahold of him. My mouth twitches with humor when Naruto reappears in a flash of gold, the light at her boots flare out behind her like four living tails.

Both of her feet slam into the side of the thug's face from his right, and he doesn't get time to do anything other that gurgle in pain as he's hit, releasing the boy on reflex just as I make it to their side. I catch the boy before he hits the ground, wrapping him in my arms and hopping back out of the fray.

Naruto takes her time to slam the flat edge of her sword into the pee-wee of one moron. I use my own sword to plunge into a mans stomach as he gets too close. Neither blows are enough to kill them, this is a safe zone. I do not feel like killing these guys. I know my sister doesn't either, because we've seen a couple of people who started out as kind, smiling and laughing. So kind and humane to everyone around them… And then they became twisted, trapped in their denial they lost sight of who they were, who they still are hidden inside. It is dark, a horrible side to the already dire situation we are in stuck in SAO.

But I'll digress, because most importantly at this immediate moment neither myself or Naruto have any desire to kill. We never did before this, and we won't now. While the attacks may not kill the assailants it'll still knock them on their ass and scare them a bit.

Naruto worked her magic twice already. Helping to save people who might have otherwise spent the rest of their time here in prison.

I strive to do the same.

I move sand around two more, grasping their heads and causing their skulls to collide rather painfully hard. The crunching sound of their unconscious bodies hitting the stone is barely heard over the fight.

Naruto grabs the arm of one of the last two, I kick a man in the head as he tries to get up, and throws him into the sole woman of the group. The force of the throw is enough to send them through the brick wall of the shop, thankfully run by an AI.

"You think you're strong just because you can pick on a kid? You think scaring a child makes you a man?" Her fist clenched around the hilt of her sword in a white knuckled grip. Sky colored eyes narrow dangerously.

I sheathe my sword, cracking my neck and knuckles. I feel the corners of my lips pull upwards for the briefest milliseconds. Knowing these fools may not die but they won't be forgetting this... ever.

My sword is sheathed, so my hands are free as I raise them in a gesture that summons copious amounts of sand, it spills out around me, slithering across the cobblestone and sneaking around the beat down thugs lying about. I've trapped them, restrained them, so Naruto is free to do as she does best.

Wreak havoc.

With a smirk taking over her previously irritated expression, Naruto slides her katana into the sheath at her side, and instead she pulls up her player menu.

"I've got just the thing for you clowns." She mutters vindictively.

Some of them struggle futilely at her ominous tone, while others lay about uselessly in unconsciousness. I just stand and watch as she selects a few items in her inventory, the items popping into existence with several resounding bell chimes.

I raise a brow at what I find sitting around Naruto's boot clad feet.

 _'What could she possibly be doing with that junk?'_ I wonder.

It's all things that fall after you've defeated mid level monsters on high level floors, and though I myself find it pointless to collect certain things, Naruto takes what she can get, because as she says "Ya just never know what ya need Bro".

At Naruto's feet is an impossible long purple tentacle with green glitter on it, a huge pink flower that looks more like a pair of lips attached to a green stem, and a mason jar full of monster eyeballs.

"Kyuu, what are you doing?" I ask.

"Well," She begins, stooping low to pick up the slimy, glittery tentacle. "This little beauty's gonna tie them up, the lip flower spews out foul smelling goo, and the monster eyes attract huge rats."

"That doesn't really explain." I point out blandly.

Naruto huffs a laugh.

"This is junk from the beta test. Don't you remember bro? Certain monster drops help you with certain things." Naruto says. "The eyes attract huge rats that only live in the towns and come out at night. They're harmless but huge, and if you kill them you can come across special treasures they've stolen from players under their nose. The tentacle you're supposed to use for making elixirs or whatever, but it'll do for this little prank. As for the flower? Well, it's really just annoying to be covered in the goop it spits and it decreases skill points the longer you're covered in it."

I blink for a long moment, noting with a strange sense of detachment that the people I have trapped in my sand are starting to struggle even more once Naruto explains a little of what she intends.

* * *

I walk away from the center of town with Naruto and the strange kid we saved from being robbed and curb stomped.

Behind us seven thugs are stripped naked, tied to the statue centering the town square in inappropriate positions and knots that are very BDSM-esque, drenched in highlighter green sludge that gives of a horrendous odor, and monsters eyes shoved into their mouths.

Oh.

And they're surrounded by a horde of gigantic rats nipping aggressively at their toes, just high enough that they can't actually be harmed. They're obviously terrified if the muffled yelps are anything to go by, but Naruto had lined the monster eyes in their mouths with glue so they can't just spit them out. No one wants to get close to the scene, so everyone just sort of crowds around and watches in morbid fascination or outright laughs.

Either way, I wasn't feeling guilty. According to Naruto the rats would leave in a day after the monster eyes went bad from being out in the open too long. The monster tentacle turned bondage rope would also disappear in due time, so the idiots would be okay, if a little mentally scarred.

Maybe then they'd think twice about targeting children.

"Kyuu." I speak up. "How did you get that tentacle to twist around that way?"

Naruto fails to hide her devious smirk from myself and our new charge, who looks like he's just seen the most egregious thing known to man in his short life.

"Ero-sennin has a few choice pieces of literature." Naruto says. "With pictures."

I don't care. My face contorts with disgust.

"And you looked at them." I deadpanned. "Long enough to figure out how to tie knots like that."

Naruto shrugs.

"My beautiful virgin eyes will never be the same, but it was kind of interesting." Naruto mutters, before adding, "In a twisted way."

I stop walking, because that pun was just atrocious. After a moment my sister stops as well, and she looks back at me. Naruto tilts her head a little in question, and then it dawns on her that her words could mean something else.

"Oh. Ohhhhh, that's a good one." She snorts, quite obviously amused.

I just shake my head.

"No worries though Ichi, I'm not into that stuff. The knots were just wicked, so I thought hey, why not y'know?"

"Sometimes I find myself wondering what I'm doing with my life." I say flatly.

Naruto just grins, unrepentant.

Honestly I wouldn't have it any other way.

"Excuse me!" The voice of the kid interrupts our antics.

He's obviously stressed and absolutely out of his element. I'm honestly surprised he hasn't taken off running by now, but people are strange creatures, as I've known for a very long time.

"Huh?" Naruto blinks, looking at the brown eyed kid with equally brown and wild hair. "Oh, sorry little dude. I kinda forgot why we're even here. What's up?"

"What's up?" The boy echoes, eyes bugging out. "What's up!? Are you kidding me! Are you people crazy!?"

"That is entirely debatable." Naruto says, so seriously that I choke a little on a small bark of laughter.

"Stop joking around!" The kid flails his arms a little helplessly.

He crosses his arms across his chest because his hands are shaking and he wants to hide. I know that's what he's doing and it immediately softens me. It's the same for Naruto, she instantly sobers at the display.

"I… look, thanks okay?" The kid says, taking in a shuddering breath. "You guys really helped me out back there, and it was really really cool, but m-man… that was messed up."

I don't say anything because Naruto's better at this, she's always been better at this, and I trust her more than anyone else to do what I can't, and vice versa. I watch her eyes sort of melt, becoming warm pools of blue pigment, and her shining, mischievous grin lulls, shifting into a slight turn of her lips that is all types of comforting and understanding.

"What's your name little dude?" Naruto murmurs. Her voice is gentle and soothing, like every part of her that isn't an unrelenting force of nature.

"I… I go by Saru." The kid, newly dubbed Saru says.

I raise a brow because he seems a little embarrassed all of a sudden, and I wonder if there's more to his name because he hesitated slightly when giving it.

Naruto held out her hand, grinning again.

"I'm Kyuubi, but Kyu is fine. And this is my bro Ichibi, but he's Ichi normally." She introduces. "Sorry if I scared you a little, I just really _reeeeeally_ hate bullies."

Saru hesitates, but he seems to find no reason to continue doing so, as Naruto is just that obviously sincere, so he takes her offered hand and shakes it.

"Cool! Now we're all buds now." Naruto chirps.

I sigh a little. There she goes being classic Naru. As usual I am not surprised by her antics.

"B-buds?" Saru sputters.

"That's right, right Ichi?" She smiles.

Saru looks at me skeptically and I just shrug, my face giving away nothing. I don't mind, the boy seems to have a good head on his shoulders, and a little fire, if the way he had talked back to those thugs was any indication.

"So who is up for food? All that pranking got me hungry." She asks, although I can tell she's worried about our new friend. The child looks a little rough around the edges, as if his avatar hasn't slept or had a proper shower in a couple days. This is her way of digging for information and keeping the kid close to us for a bit longer. Although, I muse, something tells me we're going to end up adopting a kid. I'm strangely okay with that thought. The kid reminds me so much of Naruto and I growing up. Not ready to just roll over and let this world rule us.

"So Saru, what kind of food you want?" She starts looking around and I'm assuming it's so se can find a possible food stall to pay for the kid to have a meal. He's sure to still be shaken after everything.

"I… um…" He looks unsure of what to say.

"Anyone would be unsure of what to say imoto. What with your blinding smile." I sigh and shake my head fondly.

"My sister can get enthusiastic at times. My apologies." I say as we start leading the kid towards the markets and residential part of the town

"Ah, it-it's fine."

"So, where do you want to go for some food? After beating down those guys I'm so hungry I could eat a whole demon." we pass by a couple vendors and Naruto buys some groceries, most likely for after we leave this town. We never stay any place long but we always pick up some food for the road.

I snort. "With how your stomach works you could probably out eat our classmate Chouji."

"I could not." She huffs indignantly. However her blushing takes away any angry meaning and shows she's playing.

I grin as I say one word.

"Ramen."

She slumps over in defeat, and it only furthers my amusement.

"Ah yeah. Got me there bro." She smiles. "Remember the great ramen eating contest from last year? Nearly beat Chouji too." She laughs and rubs the back of her head sheepishly.

Of course our new charge takes this moment to ask the question that will quite possibly doom him forever.

"What's ramen?" His large brown eyes look up at us, head tilted just slightly to the right.

"What… what's ramen… What's _ramen?_ " Naruto sputters, eyes bulging with horror.

"Kyuu here loves Ramen. She and our classmates have a ramen eating contest every year." I explain flatly, before continuing with, "Last year you talked us into eating in the middle of Iruka-sensei's class."

Naruto laughs and I can't hold my straight face with that sound. I crack a slight grin.

"He likes Ramen too." She tells him, throwing her blonde ponytail behind her shoulder. "We blindfolded him and made him think it was a science experiment."

"It kind of was. At least for me. Shikamaru and I had a bet on when he would figure it out." I grin. I shake my head as I remind her "You should know to never bet against a Nara."

She grins at me, looking back at our new charge. "Well, either way you need to learn about what Ramen is. If only this place had a stand. We could try making it at our place if you don't think your parents would mind you coming over?" she tilts her head

"My… My parents aren't in game. They're in the real world. It's just me here. I don't have any family." He looks down as if his feet are the most interesting thing he's ever seen. I see the look in her eyes. I already know what is going to happen next. I know that look in her eyes all too well, I probably have the same look in my own eyes.

Naruto kneels down and pats his head, giving a small, warm and comforting smile. "It's alright. So, that means you have to come over for dinner. No excuses. I'm not a amazing cook but I do pretty okay here in game. I think I can whip us up something." She grabs his hand and starts leading the way back to the hotel room that we rent. The poor kid sputtering the entire way about how we don't have to and how he doesn't want to intrude, and "Are you sure it's okay?" To which, after the fifth time of the boy asking Naruto replies in true Naruto fashion, she turns to face him with a smile asking

"Yo, I had my heart set on cooking for three people tonight. You ready to chill with us and eat? Dinner's on us kid, no ifs ands or buts about it."

The poor boy has no response to that. Not that I expected him to. No one ever does, not even Kakashi. I mentally chuckle as I recall the day she met Kakashi and threatened him on coming over for dinner regularly. The look on his face showed boredom but his eye showed nervousness.

We continue to walk the rest of the way, through winding streets, taking in the familiar sights of SAO, a peaceful setting in the safe zone of the town. Naruto is smiling, seeing a few kids playing on swings, only to wince a moment later. I can understand it, it means that while they may be playing care-free, something we never really had, here they are still trapped in this false existence. I blink and suddenly we're back. I hadn't realized I zoned out for that long. But as I think about it I realize that the park we passed was really only two blocks from here. I let Naruto open the door and take a look around, when something occurs to me.

"You know." I mention idly as we take off our shoes. "It would be cheaper if we just got a place."

* * *

 _~Naruto~_

* * *

We walk into the door of the hotel room we've been staying at for only the past two days, and we put away our shoes. I head into the 'kitchen' and start pulling out ingredients to make the food.

Normally Gaara— sorry, Ichi and I only stay a night at a place max. We're constantly on the move trying to level up our skills and gain more artifacts.

The walls of the hotel room are grey but it feels warm, not baren. There is a picturesque view of the hills and mountains beyond them. The floor is a warm cherry wood, with a nice white area carpet between the beds. The curtains are white too, light and airy as they flow with the wind blowing through light is a simple light, nothing fancy. A simple light encased with a clear glass case to enhance the power of the light bulb. This place is awesome enough to have a slightly separate kitchen but it maintains its' open floor plan.

We've been happy hopping from place to place. Resting where ever we want, hotels or trees. Just overall enjoying everything we possibly can. We've been pretty content all things considered, which is why as I'm chopping vegetables. The last thing I expect to hear is:

"You know, it would be cheaper if we just got a place."

I nearly drop the knife and turn around to face my brother.

"What did you say?"

 _'We haven't had an actual place since this started. We haven't even talked about getting a place since this started.'_ My heart is racing slightly and I try to keep focused on what I'm doing.

"It's nothing." Gaara says blandly. "We can talk about it later. I was only voicing a thought I had."

I nod, both of us have spoken out loud at one point or another. A voice cuts through, interrupting us before I can bother to bring up the subject again.

"Anything I can do to help?" I smile as Saru pokes his head through the door.

"Actually, if you wouldn't mind helping Ichi set the table?" I ask.

Saru eagerly nods his head and moves in to assist, quickly offering to carry the tray I have prepared of tea and juice for our meal. I watch them walk over to where there is a small table in the corner and Gaara moves it away from the wall, unfolding the extensions underneath it to give us a little more space.

Saru quickly gets to work setting the table with a level of experience most boys his age don't have. Normally at age twelve boys just put the plates on the table, throw a pair of chopsticks in the middle of it all and call it done. Saru on the other hand is actually placing the plates where the chairs are. Gaara is folding the napkins to make them look neat and I watch as they both place the chopsticks neatly on the side of the plate on top of the napkin. They set the cups right next to the plate and place the pitchers on either side of the middle of the table.

I check my timer and note it's almost done. I pull on my gloves and get ready to take the meal off the stove.

"Alright. Food is ready." I call out, carrying the pot to the table and placing it in the middle. "Ichi-nii? Do you mind grabbing the plate of pork ribs? Saru, mind bringing in the rice?"

Both boys nod and get up to gather the requested dishes, carrying them over to the table before setting them down and taking their place.

"Now, I've made some rice, some pork ribs and some miso soup. It's about the closest I can get to ramen right now with my cooking level."

"Don't worry. I am sure this will taste amazing." Saru tells me with a warm smile.

We all pull our chopsticks apart, holding our hands together as we say "Itadakimasu" and start enjoying the food. I see Saru start to tear up.

"Saru?" Ichi asks before I can, and isn't that unusual. "What is it?"

"It's just. I haven't had a home cooked meal since this all began. I'm sorry." He starts wiping his eyes. And I breathe a silent sigh of relief.

"It's alright. No need to be sorry. Everyone hates the situation we're in." I tell him. "It's alright to cry when it gets to be too much." I tell him, placing a hand on his back and giving Gaara a look.

"You are still a child." Ichi tells him. "You shouldn't be expected to just carry on. You were alone in this game without family." He gives me a nod and I already know that he accepts my decision, that he agrees with it.

"Until now." He says. Saru looks up at us shocked.

"Saru, My brother and I, we were wondering… How would you like to join us? We don't like the idea of you just wandering around this world. Not with some of the jerks out there. We would teach you as much as we can and you'd get to stay with us. If you want to that is?" I ask, biting my lower lip, hoping that he would agree.

He nods, "Y-yes. I'd like that. Thank you."

Gaara and I smile. Glad that he won't be left on his own anymore and that now he'll have someone to watch after him in this world.

We spend the rest of the night enjoying a warm meal and trading a few jokes to help keep the mood chill. Even though I now am aware of the cruel reality that lurks in this game. I knew before it was a possibility but I didn't want to face it. That kids are stuck here too. Alone and scared. Separated from their families.

"Alright, Now that you'll be staying with us I think it would be best if we were all listed as friends so as to make it easier to communicate should anything happen." Gaara explains. "Kyu and I like constantly traveling. We go hunting for monsters to gain cash and we hunt animals for food instead of wasting the coin. What we can't catch we buy."

"We enjoy spending time here, we rent out rooms for a while but sometimes we can't return to the same place for a while because of how long some quests can take." Both Gaara and I look at Saru, checking to make sure the boy understands. I notice the boy's eyebrows are raised a little, and my head tilts to the side slightly in question.

"So… you guys got dough?" Saru asks bluntly.

I snort, and Gaara crosses his arms over his chest.

"Not exactly," I offer, shrugging a little. "We're not bums or anything, but we get by 'cause we know how to fight."

"So you're strong?" Saru reiterates.

I look to my brother, and he shrugs faintly, as if to say 'He's not wrong'.

"Well…" I begin, before I just smile, thinking 'to hell with it'. "Yeah. We're strong."

"Whoa, I mean… I thought you guys were pretty cool already after you helped me out, but… you guys are probably way cooler than I thought if you hunt everyday and you don't even have a base or anything." Saru says, his brown eyes are gleaming, and I definitely find myself feeling a little flattered. There's just something about the admiration and respect of a kid. It's honest, and pure, and it just makes you feel better as a person because this untainted being acknowledges you.

"Well we're not weaklings." My brother says. "So we can take care of you just as well as ourselves."

"That's right." I nod once, grinning now, because I know what comes next. "So kid, what say you? Ready to be friends with two of SAO's legendary badasses?" Out of the corner of my eyes I see my brother grin and shake his head at my antics.

Saru laughs, and he beams, reciprocating the thumbs up I offered him after my last question.

"Heck yeah!" He cheers.

Something in my chest softens, and by the way Gaara shifts ever so slightly at my side, I know he had felt the same sensation. I look over, my blue eyes meeting his soft green.

"Well brother, I do believe we've got ourselves a charge." I laugh, because I can literally see my brother aborting the motion to roll his eyes fondly.

Before he can say anything, I pull up my player menu.

"Okay kid, I'm gonna send you a friend request, what's your pen name?"

I see the kid's face slowly turn red and I wonder if he has a fever. To check, I reach over to feel his forehead. He brushes my hand away and turns slightly to look at the kitchen fridge.

 _'Is he still hungry?'_ I think, both curiously and confused.

"I'll get you more food in a minute if you want. Just tell us your pen name." I settle on saying.

The kid turns even redder at that and I slowly realize. He's blushing. OMG he's actually blushing. This ought to be good. I think now that I caught onto his embarrassment, I know why he's so uncomfortable. Gaara and I have seen quite a few interesting names since we got here. Destiny Eyes, Green Beast, Twin Dragon, Flying Monkey balls up a Cows Ass, and even Fates Bitch. Most of these are caused by siblings or someone on the outside had a good time messing with the players account before they joined this world. The poor players had no clue, all they knew was someone was laughing at them.

"We've seen some interesting names before." My brother's voice interrupts my musing. "I assure you I will not laugh." I note how he conveniently keeps me out of it. "I will also do my best to ensure my sister doesn't do anything to embarrass you as well."

Well, looks like bro really does know. The kid mumbles something under his breath.

"What was that kid?" I ask, leaning closer to him.

"I said it's a long pen name." He grumbles a little louder. "You might just want me to type it in."

"Uh, sure?" I say, voice lilting up a little in question. If it can make the kid feel better then where's the harm?

Gaara and I pull up the screen and have the kid type in his pen name. I bite my cheek to stop from laughing and without looking away from his screen Ichi sends a tendril of sand to whack my head lightly.

The message is clear, _behave._ The kid said his name is long but damn. Right there on the screen is his pen name.

 _FireInheritorMonkeyBoyTricksterTheCrownPrinceofWorcestershireSauce._

Who in the hell comes up with something like that? Either he really is a kid and thought it was a cool name, someone pranked him, or he really could not think of a single thing to put so he went with them all. But, one thing I do know for sure, was that it was one of the funniest things I've seen in awhile, and it's a physical and mental battle to not burst out laughing at the kid. I'm quite proud to say I simply turn my head to the side, and cough quietly into my fist to mask a chuckle I couldn't quite hold in.

When I look back, Saru is pouting, because he knew that cough wasn't a cough, just like my brother, considering how he shoots me a faint glare before his bishounen features smoothe over again.

"That name is metal as hell." I finally say, in a completely serious tone of voice.

Saru huffs, his cheeks nearly emitting steam from his flush, and Ichi shakes his head.

"I know, it's stupid, let's just become friends already." The kid grumbles, typing a few things onto his still present player menu.

A light virtual jingling noise pierces through the atmosphere, and as I look back to my own popup menu, I see that FireInheritorMonkeyBoyTricksterTheCrownPrinceofWorcestershireSauce has accepted my friend request. A moment later, the sound of my brother getting the same notification follows.

"Well," I say, grinning, because I'm still trying not to be a douche and laugh, offering the kid another thumbs up. "Welcome to the gang kid. We like to take ass and kick names around here, so let's rock."

"That's not how that saying goes." Gaara deadpans, and I know he's thinking about slapping me, and it just makes everything all the more beautiful.

"Just call me Konohamaru." The kid say defeatedly, still a little salty because he's obviously a smart kid that knows when he's being made fun of. "It's my real name."

"Well, that name is significantly cooler than your virtual one, so that works for me little dude." I say, reaching out and ruffling his hair.

I look to my brother, questioning without words. He shrugs faintly for the nth time, leaving it to me. We both don't see the harm in returning the favor.

"I'm Naruto." I finally say, pointing to myself with a thumb, before hitching said appendage at my nii-san. "He's Gaara. We're your bros now."

I'm happy to say that I get a smile out of the newly dubbed Konohamaru for my efforts. We all trade content looks, now that we're officially friends.

"Wait." Konohamaru says after a pause. "Naruto. You're a girl."

I smirk, and I swear I can sense my brother rolling his eyes to the point of pain.

"That's what you think kid."

Konohamaru's eyes bulge.

"WHAT!?"

 _'Man, I just know things are gonna be interesting from here on out.'_

I am gonna have so much fun ruffling this kid's feathers, and I know it's worth it, even as my brother summons a hand of sand to slap me upside the head again.

 _'Totally worth it.'_ I smile.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

 **Hellion 1: *sigh* Kono you should not have given her the ammo to do that. You set yourself up for that. My hellion buddy is brilliant isn't she? (You are the better hellion though bud also you are always number 1 in my book). Please tell us what you like.**

 **Kamui (I am Hellion 2 'cause Nin is always #1): Look guys, we made you funnies. Hopefully we got some laughs, cause we've been slapping you around with angst for a while now. That's not to say that there won't be much MUCH more. *winks***


	4. No Shortcuts To Greatness

**Kamui: In response to Kurama9 from discord, thank you so much for your kind words! We also adore Gaara and decided he needs more love in the Naruto fandom, so that's why he was chosen. Hopefully we will see you again sometime. #flatteredAF.**

 **Nin: Yo Kura! Glad you like the story my waifu and I are working on. Especially since I only mentioned it earlier today. #excited**

 **She's got an awesome mind.**

 **In response to Cody Jaaxs, Naruto and Gaara are both beta players because Jiraiya got the nerve gear for them. Jiraiya got it while working and covering the story on Kayaba when the game was being beta'd. They had time to kill and spent a lot of time online when the beta was out they were able to keep their stats.**

* * *

 _"I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."_

 _-Lee Harvey Oswald_

* * *

 _~Naruto~_

* * *

Night's come, and Konohamaru is tucked in all snug like in one of the two beds occupying the room Gaara and I rented.

There's a lamp with a swaying flame within it on the bedside table bathing the room in soft golden light, and it casts almost sinister shadows across Gaara's face. Fireflies do their ballet around this side of the house. Crickets sing their melody in the grass as they all harmonize to the firefly show.

The kid's asleep, so that just means I have no choice but to face something I didn't want to. You see, my brother in all but blood never said anything if he didn't think it needed to be said, so earlier before dinner, when he spoke the words _"It would be cheaper if we just got a place."_ , he meant them. I know he did.

And god damn me it shouldn't matter, it shouldn't be _anything_ , but it _is_. Gaara had said we could discuss it later and apparently the time has come.

"Naruto." Gaara intones, sitting on the side of the twin sized bed we would be sharing after this was over. (And man do I just want the conversation to be over before it even starts). "You know it won't just go away if you ignore it."

"When have you ever known me to run away, brother?" I ask, a warning hint in my tone.

"Not often," Gaara admits, inclining his head. "But it would be a lie to say you jump at the chance to talk about or explore your insecurities."

"Does anyone?" I snarl, feeling a little attacked, even though I know it's ridiculous and over dramatic and he didn't even mean it in a malicious way. Feelings are stupid that way. Ugh.

"Naruto don't try and give me a verbal run around." My brother huffs slightly, his pale eyes piercing and shrewd, even as they ask what we both already know. "Why don't you want to get a place?"

"What's wrong with us just doing it the way we've been doing it?" I counter, raising an eyebrow.

"I mean, I'm fine with us bunking it wherever we want." Gaara says, never one to be deterred. "However, we've been spending a good amount of our cash on renting a room for a night. Why not just buy a place to save money? It's practical." He shrugs.

I glance at my brother, my lips turning down slightly as I frown. I'm just… I dunno, I don't like the idea of settling down. Can you even settle down in a game? It's just… the whole situation is just rubbing me the wrong way.

"I get what you're saying." I admit, starting to calm down, because having a heating temper at the moment won't help in any way. "It's just… y'know, how long are you planning for us to be stuck in this game? Shouldn't we be stacking up skills so we can clear all the floors? Why worry about a place in a world that isn't even real?"

The resulting silence is louder than anything else, and it only makes me more uncomfortable. I hate being indecisive, but in this situation I'm just not feeling it.

"Naruto…" Gaara starts, his sea green eyes are soft, and I know immediately that he gets it, and I also know that he doesn't agree. "I understand what you're saying, but what could the harm be in having a home base? It's not like we're planning to stay forever. We could only benefit from our own house. We could keep more items that we don't want to carry in our inventory in it, and we won't waste valuable funds on rented rooms. On top of that we have a kid with us now. I know it's likely we'll practically adopt him. We need some place safer than here for him to stay." He places a gentle arm around me and gives me a hug, our foreheads touching as we lock eyes.

"He'll need his own room. An actual place for his things besides his storage menu."

It made sense. Kami does it make sense, but still. Still it doesn't sit right with me. It was like, even with all the reasons why we should get a house, the biggest reasons why I didn't think we should seemed more important. It's like if we get a place, we're giving up. Being complacent instead of rebelling, tearing our way through this stupid freaking game so we could be _free._ But I dunno. Maybe I really was just being too dramatic? Maybe I should just chill and listen to my brother, because I know he's never led me wrong, nor would he ever do so.

I sigh.

"I don't like this." I murmur.

"I know." Gaara says, just as soft. And I know he does. I know he understands exactly where I'm coming from, and somehow… knowing that just makes things a tiny bit better.

I sigh again, pushing a bit of hair behind both of my ears and making my way over from where I'd been standing across the room. I gingerly seat myself beside my longtime companion and stare down at my hands in my lap after lacing my fingers together.

"Fine." I mutter. "We can get a place."

I feel Gaara's eyes boring into the side of my head but I don't look at him just yet. I'm still feeling a little weak, and though I despise that, sometimes being that way was just apart of life.

"I'm surprised." Gaara states, and I snort in reply. "You changed your tune more easily than I anticipated."

"Yeah well, enjoy it while ya can bro, 'cause I'm still the stubborn to your ass." I grumble, finally looking at him so I can give him a roguish grin, feeling infinitely better already at the annoyance painted clearly across his porcelain face.

But I allow my eyes to harden seriously and I'm pleased to see my brother immediately pick up on it.

"But, if I feel like you're starting to slack in this game and getting too comfortable we're selling it and we're going back on the road again." I bargain. "We can't afford to be letting our guard down, deal?"

"It's an easy compromise that I had considered from the beginning." Gaara responds. "It's cute how you think you're so clever. Deal."

I scowl, and Gaara smirks. His eyes just communicated perfectly 'that's what you get for calling me an ass'.

"You just proved you're an ass." I say.

"Pot, meet kettle." Gaara deadpans.

"I am not an asshole." I huff, amusement threatening to make me smile but I fight it off. "I'm the freaking awesome incarnate."

"Only an ass would say that." He points out.

I chuckle, losing the battle and shove his shoulder playfully, feeling warmth in my chest at his tiny smile.

"Shut up, you suck." I say with no real heat.

I lie down on the covers and Gaara joins me. Both of us just enjoying the silence and the company.

The next morning I wake up and get ready to prepare breakfast. The sun's gentle orange glow illuminating the room and warming my face as I open the windows. Birds chirping happily as they too start their morning, the air is calm and still. It's the perfect morning.

I pull my blonde hair back into a ponytail and wash my hands. The first thing I'll do is get the water ready for the rice. As the rice cooks I start making a rolled omelet.

Bacon coated with brown sugar simmers in a pan while I 'beat' a couple eggs, cheese and milk.

I 'chop' the zucchini, some tomatoes, and parsley. I pour the mixture into a pan and then flip it over. The one bonus to the game is meals are prepared twice as fast as what it takes real life although I do miss cooking actual food.

I work on prepping ingredients for two more while the first cooks. Then I nudge Gaara awake to set the table. He looks at me half asleep but doesn't really move to glare me like he would for someone else. He and I both love our sleep after all but we've been through this routine enough for it to just be habit. He rises, walking over to pull out our ocean themed plates. Dolphins jumping out of the water while seabirds fly over the sparkling waves.

I had picked them out. They looked really cool at the shop and the dolphins are a symbol of my favorite teachers namesake. I plate the omelettes as they finish cooking and Gaara serves the rice. I head to wake up 'Saru' so he can eat while it's hot.

He's so cute as he rubs his eyes while he struggles to stay awake. Makes me able to picture him with adorable little teddy bear ears on him. I promptly pick him up and rest him on my hip while I walk towards the table. Of course this is the motion that gets him to wake up and act less cute. But still cute nonetheless.

"O-oi! I can walk by myself woman. Put me down. I'm not a baby!" His cheeks light up an adorable shade of pink while he makes a fuss. Of course, seeing as how our place is so small I've already reached the table by the time he starts kicking up a fuss.

I set him down and muse his hair. Knew it would be fun to ruffle his feathers.

He continues to pout but soon begins to drool at the smell of hot food.

 _'When was the last time he ate a hot meal I wonder?'_ Dread pools in my stomach like an anchor. _'How many other children are there who don't get hot meals every day? How many children don't even have a place I wonder?'_

"Are they destined to be just as shackled here as we were in the real world?"

"Hm?" My brother asks, chopsticks in his mouth already as he starts eating the panda shaped omelette I made him. I wave my hands to disalarm him.

"It's nothing. It's nothing! Hehe. Just talking to myself." The narrowed pools of sea foam tells me I better stop trying to hide or I'll get it.

I raise my eyebrow challenging him.

 _'You wouldn't dare.'_

Gaara's chopsticks are calmly placed down as sand wraps around me. He says, "Konohamaru. My sister and I have something to talk about in private. We'll be right back."

My eyes widen. _'He would!'_

"Go ahead and keep eating. We'll be back in a sec. Just sibling stuff." I tell him although I know I'm in for it once were outside.

* * *

 _~Konohamaru~_

* * *

I watch in horror as Naruto is dragged outside by sand. The door closes with an audible click and I'm debating on following them outside to make sure sis is okay when I hear a high pitched scream. My eyes widen.

' _Christ almighty what is he doing to her!?'_

"AH THAT TICKLES YOU LITTLE BUGGER! AHAHAHAHA!"

I bang my forehead on the table.

Of course. Of freaking course.

"What kind of people did I get mixed up with?" I mumble, shoving a bit of omelette in my mouth as I wonder if maybe I should just jump out the window and escape now.

' _Nah.'_ I tell myself. _'It's probably fine.'_

Besides… even if those guys are beyond weirdos I kinda… like them.

* * *

 _~Naruto~_

* * *

I try squirming out of Gaara's sand as the little bugger keeps tickling my foot! Curse him for knowing my weakness. After I'm about ready to die from my wheezing and shrieking he finally stops.

"Are you ready to quit being mopey and just tell me what's up? We're siblings. We don't hide from each other and we don't judge each other. It's why this relationship works."

I sigh. He's right. This isn't me. I've been moping and normally I would have done something about it by now.

"What's wrong with me?" I sit up and hold my head in my hands

Gaara sighs next to me, "You started to get like this after we saved Saru. If I had to guess it was the look in the kids eyes. We both saw it. He thought he was going to die."

I give a hollow laugh. But both know there's nothing funny about this.

"How many times were we in his position?" I wonder, looking up at the stars.

"I don't know, too many to count." Gaara murmurs. "And we only had each other. He was alone. Just like we used to be."

I look back at my brother, our eyes meet and I watch him study me. He's got a piercing gaze. Other people might see a dead pair of eyes, but I know Gaara. He's _seeing_ me. He _knows_ me.

"If I had to guess seeing that look in his eye is getting to you." He says. "All those memories we have that we repressed. You've got a big heart Naru. And it bleeds for the innocent. Innocent like kids."

"They were actually going to kill him weren't they Gaara? They would hurt a kid." I choke, feeling my throat tighten and my eyes sting. And god damn me, it's always like this. There's always some point where I can't grin and laugh it off.

But I guess I wouldn't really want to. Because I remember a time before Gaara, when I hurt so bad and I just wanted everything to stop, and all I could do was lie to myself and smile. Having someone know me. Like, really know me... It's the best thing that's ever happened to me.

That's why despite the way I can't completely blink away my tears, my mouth twitches, and I smile for real.

"Gaara?" I call, knowing the warmth in my chest soothing all the pain shredding at my heart is love.

"Hm?" He hums, a kind shimmer in his light colored eyes.

"I love you man." I say.

Gaara's eyes close gently, and a tiny upturn at the corners of his mouth answers my words.

"I know." He says, and his tone is saying, _I love you too._

And really, this is okay, right? We were alone, and now we're not. Konohamaru was alone. But now he's not.

"The kid has us." I say, lifting a hand to wipe away the evidence of my emotions.

"Yes." My brother agrees softly. "He does."

I nod, standing up and dusting myself off. Gaara follows my head, tilting his head slightly as he studies me again.

"And you know the first thing we did when we found each other?" I ask him.

"You mean besides clinging to one another?" He deadpans.

I snort, shoving his shoulder playfully, to his silent amusement.

"Yeah, but seriously." I say. "We stuck together, and then we got stronger."

"Ah." Gaara hums. "I see. You want to train him to become stronger? So that he can do more than survive."

"You're damn right I do." I nod, clenching my fists at my sides, because I can feel determination swelling inside me.

Determination, the need to nurture and protect, and everything that goes along with that.

"I can see how serious you are." Gaara murmurs. "Alright then. I suppose we should introduce the idea of training to him them."

Now I'm grinning for real.

"Let's do it!"

Gaara just shakes his head slightly as I find myself getting fired up, following me back into the lodge building and back to our room. I'm practically vibrating and my mouth hurts as I bare my teeth in a huge "Naruto Grin", twisting the knob to our rented room and slamming the door open with a resounding bang.

If Kono's high pitched yelp is anything to go by I scared the freaking crap out of him. He looks at me like a deer in headlights, more than halfway done with the food that's been placed in front of him, a few crumbs clinging to his baby face.

"Great news squirt we're gonna teach you how to kill shit and take names!" I cheer, fist pumping.

"Fool." Gaara huffs in amusement, sliding around me, of course not before slapping me lightly upside the head.

I pout a little as I watch my bro enter the room, sulkily closing and locking the door behind us.

"Um. What?" Kono asks, blinking at me. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about carnage kid. Total annihilation of your enemies and mass bloodbaths that will be sung praises by scum across the earth throughout the ages. Don't you wanna know how to do that?"

"LADY YOU'RE CRAZY!" Kono shrieks, reeling back in his seat with his eyes about as big as baseballs.

I can't help it. It bubbles up inside me and spills out to the point that I'm shuddering and I can't stand all the way up straight anymore. I'm wheezing on the floor when I hear my brother explain things like the moderately decent human being that he is.

"Naru is an idiot." Gaara explains blandly. "An idiot that happens to think she's hilarious. What she really means is that we're going to train you in combat so that you can defend yourself should we not be able to."

"Oh." The kid says. "That… sounds way better than what she said."

"Hm." Gaara intones.

I'm pretty calm by this point so I catch my breath and push myself to my feet, rubbing at the back of my head before I just decide to lace by fingers behind there.

"Kid, you're a riot." I chuckle. "You didn't really think I meant that right?"

The glare he shoots me has to be the cutest thing I've ever seen. Well, besides Gaara blushing. But Kono being an angry puppy is a close second, I tell you!

"Stop goofing around." Gaara chides, sounding faintly exasperated.

"Okay okay," I allow, trotting over to the table to sit back down and look at our new charge in curiosity. "So what do you think squirt? Wanna learn how to throw down?"

The kid looks at me for a long few moments, squinting at me and jutting his bottom lip out as if he's trying to figure out whether or not I'm yanking his chain. He seems to have come to the conclusion that I'm not, and the weird expression melts away into a tentative smile.

"Yeah." Kono nods. "That sounds really cool. You guys really don't mind? You've already done so much for me…"

"Nonsense," Gaara speaks up. "We're a party now. A team, and we're going to help each other so we can work as a cohesive unit."

"What stick up his butt is saying, is that you're already adopted kid." I grin, snickering. "You're ours and we're yours."

Big brown eyes blink at me, then Gaara, then me again. And suddenly the kid is turning away swiftly from the both of us, causing my brows to furrow in confusion. What could he possibly have seen in our faces to make him do that?

"What's wrong little dude?" I ask gently, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder.

"Shut up, I've just got something in my eye." He sputters.

"Oh ho ho~?" I look at my brother, and he has this sort of tiny wry tilt on his mouth.

It has me smirking, and I don't give monkey boy any time to gather himself before I'm grabbing the kid and pulling him into my lap to cuddle and rub my cheek against his. The kid squirms, but everybody in the room knows it's all for show.

"Lemme go!" Kono squeaks indignantly.

"Awww that adorable you were moved to tears weren't ya squirt?" I tease, squeezing him affectionately.

"NO!" He bellows.

My eyes meet Gaara's across the table. He has a fond shine in his green eyes. And I know right then that everything is gonna be okay.

We saved this kid, and we're gonna help him get strong. He's our little dude now, and we'll take care of him the way no one did for us when it really mattered.

You can believe that.

* * *

 _~The next morning~_

* * *

The sun is barely up, birds are just starting to wake up, trying to get a jump start on the day. All is calm and peace— "AHH!"

...ful

"Wake up little buddy. Rise and shine it's time to start bleeding." I stand over Kono's bed with an empty bucket in my hands, it did have water in it but at least the water wasn't cold. I may be waking him up at the crack of dawn but I'm not that cruel.

"What the hell? The sun isn't even awake yet!" He hisses.

Man the mouth on this kid. Too cute.

"I know. We're leaving, we don't want anyone to follow us so we're going to leave before anyone else gets up." I explain, waving him off. "Come on, grab your stuff."

I start making my way to the door and turn to look behind me just one more time.

"If you aren't dressed by the time breakfast is done I'll carry you in your pj's." I smirk as he immediately starts scrolling through his player list for clothes he can 'wear'. I put the rice into the cooker and start on the bacon and eggs.

I hear a yawn and see Gaara slowly rubbing his eyes as he heads to the bathroom for the first shower. As a kid Gaara had problems sleeping due to his uncle, it got better after he and I met. He may sleep better and fall asleep quicker when we're together but he still wakes up early most mornings. That makes it harder for him to wake up the few times he sleeps in, his body needs the sleep.

I start the tea for when he gets out, it'll help him wake up; he doesn't like how jittery coffee makes him feel. He once described it as an itch all over his body. Like he could run for hours non-stop. Since then he and I both drink tea, I'm already hyper enough without the extra caffeine or so Gaara-nii says.

I gather some peppermint tea for Gaara and some Celestial raspberry zinger tea for myself. I flip the bacon and plate a couple of eggs that are already done, I pop toast in and start plating the bacon that has already browned to perfection. I flip the remaining egg and turn in time to put the toast onto the plates. I pull the one egg off the burner before it burns and plate the rest of the bacon.

Gaara makes it out of the shower wearing his usual red short sleeved shirt with black pants, just as I am pouring the tea. He picks up the cup and allows the warmth of the smell to make him smile. He sips at it gratefully as he sits down at the table. I grin as Saru sits down next to him. I serve the plates and I'm greeted with two voices saying "Thank you." I smile and sit on the other side of Kono-chan as I begin my meal. We eat in a manner of five minutes- it is a small meal and monkey boy takes care of dishes while Gaara packs and I grab a shower. I quickly shower and dress in my usual black pants and white shirt with an orange spiral on the front. As I exit the kid runs in to grab his shower and I take my turn to pack up the dishes.

"Gaara?" I call. "Help me pack the dishes?"

"We're really bringing those?" This was a set of four plates, tea cups, bowls and mugs. It's my favorite set so far and there are a lot of dishes.

"Please." I cutely pout. "I know we normally would leave them but it's my favorite.." I don't get to finish as Gaara is already helping to pack the tableware into his menu. I honestly do like this set. There was more but I didn't want to waste more money. I only got the set of four because it meant that when one set was drying we could still have the other set for eating. Once finished we grab our shoes and wait as the water shuts off.

After a small wait, Saru comes out in his blue pants and a black shirt with a picture of a monkey on the left arm. Gaara and I throw on our respective red and burnt orange hoodies. Kono grabs his bag while Gaara and I open the door. He and I share a look saying we need to teach him about how to maximize the use of his player menu, as we head out.

"Better get ready to run Kono. The sun is already starting to rise and we have a long way to go to get to where we'll be training." I say as I start running.

Gaara and I know how to take rooftops but honestly we don't need to risk the kid breaking an ankle or dying because we pushed too hard too fast. We have to work him up to that. We race through the town towards the fields, whistling in my ears that I love so much. It's the sound of freedom. I already hear people starting to get up. NP's are talking with each other and walking around, setting up their stalls for the morning rush.

I take in the orange and pink sky lit by the sun trying to signal a new day. The crickets had since stopped their symphony, now taken over by the birds singing a light tune. The drops on the grass from the rain last night, everything is brilliant as we make our dash.

I eventually stop after about ten blocks so the youngest of our group can catch his breath. Poor kid looks like he's about to drop, I'll have to fix that. I pull out a water canteen from my menu, the bell like sound it makes as it appears in my hand, and offer it to Kono with a smile.

"Here, drink up, catch your breath." I say. "Sorry didn't realize you really couldn't handle a run. We'll work on that so don't worry."

I pull out another canteen and offer it to Ichi but a bell signals he already has his own. He and I are always prepared for almost anything. I take a few precious sips of water, noting Saru has already finished his own.

"Easy there. You'll give yourself a stomach ache if you drink so fast." Gaara tells him.

Konohamaru nods and slumps a little in relaxation. I put away the two canteens reminding myself to refill the one at some point and we take off again despite Konohamaru's pleas for just five more minutes. I laugh.

"Nope, come on little buddy you gotta work on endurance. Think of this as part of your training, don't worry about keeping up. Worry about keep going. Set a pace you can deal with for a while. I'll match your pace so you don't lose us alright?" I ask and he nods switching to more of a jog than a run.

After roughly twenty minutes of jogging, and one Kono looking like he's sweating to death, we finally make it to the woods.

"Alright, we'll stop here and take a ten minute break. We're going to practice knife throwing once those ten minutes are up. If you have any food to eat, snack now and regain your energy. It won't be as tiring as running but you will need the energy after all that exercise." Gaara tells him calmly, voice barely shaking since he and I are used to much more demanding activities.

"Kay." Kono pants, dropping onto the ground in clear relief.

The kid pulls up his player menu and searches for something in his food inventory to chew on.

I share a look with Gaara. We both know that this is only the beginning.

But we're ready.


	5. What's To Come

**Kamui: Wham bam thank you ma'am, here's a double update. Nin says we owe you guys for taking a millenia and I agree.**

* * *

" _I hated every minute of training, but I said, don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.''_

— _Muhammad Ali_

* * *

 _~Konohamaru~_

* * *

It has to be sometime near midnight.

It's surreal, because I can smell the crisp scent of forest trees on the mountainside I've been told to escape from. The sky is dark, an inky blue littered with distant twinkling stars. I'm not exactly sure how long Gaara and Naru have been training me, but probably around two weeks, and I've gotten better at the skills they're helping me level up on.

I've increased my dexterity, reaction time, and attack time.

Lately I've been working on my agility, so that's why I'm on a mountainside with freezing yet soft breezes every so often whispering around me and through the trees. Naruto set up traps all along the mountain side and told me that I needed to get around them before an hour was up and meet her and Gaara at the bottom of the mountain.

I take a deep breath, calming myself as the clean air fills my lungs. The sound of a mechanical _ding_ makes my eyes snap open as my player menu pops up, notifying me that I have a direct message.

 _Kyuubi has sent a message,_ it says.

My eyes simply read: _Go._

And I'm off like a rocket.

' _Chill out.'_ I tell myself. _'You can do this Konohamaru! You've got this!'_

I'm sprinting down the slope of the mountain side, and almost by instinct I leap over a trip rope hidden under fallen leaves. I stumble a little on my landing, my foot sinking into a disguised hole. Breath hitching, I dive forward, narrowly avoiding a gigantic log suspended by ropes speeding in at my right. Eyes bulging I scramble to my feet, pulse fluttering rapidly in my chest at the thunderous sound of the log crashing into another tree trunk.

I take off again, feet crunching against dead leaves, eyes darting left and right in the darkness for any hint that I'm about to trip another trap.

' _Come on come on come on!'_

My ankle snags and snaps a spider silk-like wire.

"DAMMI—"

I gasp as a towering bamboo shoot springs up from underground and slams into my middle, cutting me off and knocking the breath out of my lungs as I'm sent me flying. The wind whistles by my ears briefly as my mind screams in fear before I feel my back hit this time by a further triggered bamboo shoot that slaps me face first into the dirt.

"Gah!"

I roll onto my back, aching and spitting out earthy, damp soil. This damn game is way too freaking realistic.

Wheezing a little, I manage to stumble to my feet again and start shambling down the mountainside once more. I allow myself to start speed walking, them I'm jogging, then I'm sprinting again.

I squint through the darkness as I run along the forest's narrow path, catching sight of several ropes stretched taut in a spider web-like design. I know damn well I'm not going around that without tripping some really heinous traps, so I'll have to go through it.

I pick up my speed, pushing my stamina gauge to the limit.

"Here I go…!"

I leap, tucking tight into a ball and sailing right through the only opening I can fit through, but I feel my right arm scrape by the ropes just so.

I land in a barrel roll and wobble to my feet, blood chilling in my veins at the faint rumbling sound I can hear. I'm terrified to turn around, but I'm an idiot so I look anyway.

Honestly, I don't know why I'm surprised to see three huge boulders crashing down the mountainside and barreling towards my location.

"How the hell did she even manage to set this up?" I swallow.

Then I realize what I'm doing and that my time would be much better spent running for my life so I start doing that again.

' _That rotten blonde she-devil!'_ I curse.

The boulders are quickly gaining on me, and I can hear them mowing over trees with no trouble like they're weak blades of grass. This has got to be some form of child abuse. It just has to be.

But I sprint because my life literally depends on it, leaping, sliding, dodging, rolling and using every trick I know to get out of this. I know if I stray off the path I'll trip another trap beside the boulders, and it's too dark within the trees to see anything.

Running away from the boulders is my best bet.

Bamboo shoots and giant swinging logs come for me as the boulders trigger their ropes and wires, but I manage to dodge around them all by a hairsbreadth.

Lucky me. How lame would it be to die by getting hit by a tree or a rock in a world with literal man eating monsters?

"Naru…" I grit, pushing myself as I see the end of the mountain finally in sight. "I swear if I die from this training I'll haunt you and my ghost will pee in your ramen!"

* * *

 _~Naruto~_

* * *

"Oi, bro." I call, a smirk playing at my lips.

It's dark as satan's heart out and I'm standing beside Gaara at the bottom of a mountain in a clearing that leads to trees that create a forest along the mountainside.

"Hm?" My brother hums, arms crossed over his chest.

"You hear that?" I question.

Gaara tilts his head ever so slightly, and I see a faint look of recognition light up his eyes.

"It is faint, but yes." He nods once.

"That, dear brother, is the sound of a suffering child. Oh how it fills my heart with joy." I sing, flashing him a shit eating grin.

Gaara rolls his eyes slightly. I just turning away again, hands on my hips as the far off sound becomes progressively louder. Then I'm just downright laughing because I can clearly hear FireInheritorMonkeyBoyTricksterTheCrownPrinceofWorcestershireSauce screaming his head off and shouting language foul enough to drop Pervy Sage in a dead faint in horror.

Now I'm cackling like the wicked witch bitch I am because the kid is being chased by my trap boulders and his eyes are about as big as saucers.

But hey, at least he made it down the mountain in less than an hour. So that means he passed his test.

I get a laugh, kid gets more badass, Gaara still looks like a porcelain doll— everybody wins amirite?

Kono straight up trips and face plants into the clearing, his body parting a deep groove into the grass. The boulders shimmer with iridescent light and shatter into scattering shards that twinkle out, as I had programmed them to do so should they leave the "training area".

Kono lays face first in the ground like a dead guy, and my stomach aches a little from laughing so dang hard. Sighing happily, I flick away the humourous tears in my eyes and take a step towards the dead kid.

"Good job squirt!" I greet happily. "You made it down the mountain in forty five minutes, it's a new record!"

"Bite me." He mumbles into the dirt.

"Aw, don't be like that little dude, it's for your own good I promise."

Kono's face shoots up, smeared with dirt so thoroughly he really does look like a little monkey.

"Yeah right!" He exclaims. "You only made me do that again so you could have a good laugh!"

"Gaara, bro, back me up here?" I sweat a little.

My brother shakes his head a little and gives Konohamaru a once over.

"She's correct you know." He offers. "While she does take a concerning amount of amusement from certain aspects of your training, you _are_ improving from what you're doing."

"Yeah, see there kid? I told ya." I butt in, giving him a thumbs up. "It took you forty five minutes this time around, when the first time it took ya two hours and change 'cause you kept getting your ass handed to you by logs."

"Hey!" Kono protests, pushing himself up onto his knees. Man is this kid covered in mud and banged up to all hell. "Those logs are freaking vicious. You'd know, since _you're_ the one who freaking put them there!"

I stick my pinky in my nose and twist it around a bit carelessly. I look like the height of dismissive douchebaggery and I know it.

"Yeah yeah kid. I know. The injustice and all that jazz." I drawl.

"Naruto you butthead!" He yells.

I turn away because I'm smiling again. I'd only acted like that to ruffle his feathers again. He's such a cute little ball of seething rage sometimes.

"Ignore her Kono. You did well." Gaara says. "Come, let's get you cleaned up, there's a river nearby."

Kono grumbles but I can hear him getting up and trotting over. I drop into a squat, and look over my shoulder at the kid. He glares at me.

"What are you doing?" He asks. "Gotta take a dump?"

"Oh shut up kid and hop on." I huff.

Kono grumbles some more but I feel a slight weight against my back and small muddy arms drape over my shoulders from behind. Gaara shakes his head at our antics but doesn't say anything. He simply silently leads the way to the river, where I'm assuming we'll be setting up camp for the night. We've spent the better part of two weeks here just lying under the stars listening to the stream and crickets at night while Kono swears me out over his training.

Where in the sam hell he heard most of these words I'll never know but who ever taught him deserves a bar of soap in their mouth no matter how funny I find it. A kid should not know how to string curse words to form certain sentences.

Gaara and I have been camping many places but this seems to be our favorite spot so far, between the trees and the stream. We were talking earlier this week about making our camp here a bit more permanent. I've always wanted a tree house. I recall reading robin hood as a kid and wondering 'why couldn't they be real?' reading about them leaping through the trees, living in tree houses. Zip lines and adventures. This place seems perfect for that. Up in the trees will help protect us from wild boars, other animals and stupid thieves. We'll have to get the materials but this place is practically ours.

I take a look at our food stores, we had written up a list of what we all have in our inventory and we cross things off as we use them.

"Looks like I'm heading to the market in the next few days." I say, causing them to look up to me curious. I explain, "I'm looking at our inventory. We catch fish and other stuff every couple days to save a little cash, but we haven't been able to find any berries or fruit around here. We're out of things like cheese, bread, and vegetables. And those things help boost HP more effectively."

"You're right." Gaara hums. "I'll come with you then."

"What?" Kono blinks at us. "What about me?"

"You'll stay here." I say. "I'm sure Gaara has his own "test" he needs to give you that you need to pass. You've already passed mine with your little adventure down the mountain."

The young boy pouts at us impressively.

"No fair, you're just gonna leave me here while you guys go have fun in town?" He huffs, crossing his arms petulantly. "I might wanna buy stuff too."

"No." Gaara says firmly. "You will remain here until Nauto and I deem your training complete. You will only benefit from completing the tasks we have given you to the best of your ability."

"Besides," I pick up cheerfully, reaching a hand out and ruffling the kids wild brown hair, much to his chagrin. "We won't even be gone a full day. Staying here while we run an errand won't hurt."

"Fine." Kono finally relents, and then pouts again. "But you better bring me back something nice."

"I can live with that." I grin.

And with that, things were settled for the time being.

* * *

Three days later Konohamaru managed to get down the mountainside riddled with traps in forty minutes instead of his record breaking forty five. Gaara assigned him more blade training exercises, and instructed him to cut a boulder completely in half.

Mind you, the boulder was bigger than the three of us combined, so the kid had his work cut out for him. Though, I'd be using the trip to town with Gaara to get the kid an upgraded weapon from a blacksmith. If we came back and he managed to have cut the boulder in half, I'd give him his weapon immediately.

If not? Well, he could have his weapon when he passed his new test.

"This is child abuse." Kono insists from across the clearing.

I toss a wry look at him over my shoulder and then look back at Gaara. My brother simply shakes his head in exasperation.

"Ha, you've got jokes kid." I call. "By the way, what type of weapon do you prefer?"

"Uh, I guess a bō staff." He answers, turning away from his practice boulder to give me a confused look. "Why?"

"No reason." I smile. "What about a naginata? This _is_ Sword Art Online little dude."

"Well yeah, you use different swords and stuff." The kid shrugs. "A naginata sounds cool. But seriously, why?"

"Don't worry about it kid." I wave away. "Don't you have a boulder to be cutting in half?"

"Dude, you guys gave me a standard level 10 short sword how the heck am I supposed to do this!?" Kono exclaims.

"Chill kid, I'm sure you'll figure it out." I say cooly. "You can rest or strategize as much as you want, this test doesn't have a time limit since it's your first time having to do this. We don't expect you to have this done by the time we get back."

"Though we do expect to at least see that you've tried." Gaara speaks up.

I nod in agreement and smile fondly as Konohamaru starts grumbling again and crosses his arms. Heh. He really is a cute kid.

"Naruto." Gaara says.

"Hm?"

"I think we should start heading out." He points out. "The sooner we finish this errand the sooner we can return to oversee his training."

"Mm, yeah. You're right Nii-san, lets dip." I say, looking back to our charge. "See ya in a bit squirt."

"Yeah yeah." Kono grumbles.

Chortling I turn away again and Gaara and I head out.

"Message us if you need us to return immediately." Gaara instructs.

"Got it!" Kono calls.

I look up at the sky, it's bright baby blue and cloudless. A nice day for a little errand on the town. So Gaara and I head out, pulling up our player menus so we don't have to run like some kind of fantasy ninjas all the way to the closest town. I scroll down until I reach the transport option, selecting my desired location.

I assume Gaara is following my lead.

When I come to I'm standing before a towering wooden gate leading into the town Gaara and I will be shopping in for the afternoon. I hear a faint twinkling noise and turn, watching my brother's avatar spawn to my right.

We wander around taking in the sights of people selling clothes, jewelry, food, wine, and finally a blacksmith. I take in the sight of the different types of weapons. Amazingly they do have bo-staffs but Kono will need something a bit sharper if someone is coming after him with the intent to harm. There's ninja stars, shuriken, with various number of points. 4-point shuriken, 5-point shuriken, six, seven and eight point shuriken.

"Double bladed kunai, tantos, box knives, regular throwing knives of varying metals, katanas…" I hear Gaara muttering and I know he's in heaven with these weapons.

"Come on bro." I roll my eyes with a slight shake of my head. "We gotta get new weapons made. Our stuff is good but it needs repairs and if we're going to protect Kono then we need better ones too. I know your throwing knives are due for an upgrade. They're well maintained but they're used so often that they're on their last leg."

"They were cheap. I never truly upgraded them after we got stuck." He muses.

"Exactly." I say. "So go pick some better ones out. We can afford it. We mostly live off land anyway."

Gaara gets a wild grin that I can't help but feed off of and return. He looks so happy at the thought of new toys but then again, I'm happy too.

Gaara heads over and looks at the knives and I turn to look at the naginata. I see one that looks funky. It's dark purple and the handle looks bent, obviously not a good make especially since I can tell the blade is of very low quality, the blade is chipped on the end. I look over all the different ones they have. While a naginata is not too popular in a game meant for swords they still have a decent selection.

There's one that catches my eye and I know immediately that it's perfect for Kono. The shaft is a forest green. It appears to be able to twist and separate in the middle to help the wielder conceal it should they need to. Or in Kono's case, help him handle it better with how short he is.

I pick it up, it's well balanced. Only then, as I turn it over in my hands do I realize the pattern on the handle moving towards the blade. A dragon's tail starting at the end of the handle and winding up, near the blade the beast's mouth appears to open, the blade looking more like the dragon's tongue with how it looks more like a double point, no, fire. The blade is a brilliant mix of red, orange and yellow.

' _Kono would love this. It's badass.'_ I realize. A dragon breathing fire as a design? And they used every bit of the weapon to make it functional. Even the handle has slight grooves to act as both scales for the dragon and grips for your hands. It's brilliant. I look at the price tag, a little high but the blade is high quality, the balance is perfect, it's got a grip and it'll last for quite some time. It won't break easily and with the blade being stainless steal it won't rust easily either.

Gaara looks over his shoulder at me, sea green eyes trailing over what I've chosen for our charge.

"That's a good one." He says.

I simply smirk in response and bring the weapon with me to go look at a few other things, I need new gloves as my current pair is already worn through. I know that while I may not be able to get those here it doesn't kill me to at least look. I wander around seeing if anything catches my eye.

"What did you find bro?" I ask as I wander.

"A set of twenty knives. Steal, crimson red handle and black blade."

"Why not get a second or third set? Your first set of twenty dwindled down because of all those boulders you cut in half. Even if it's better quality once you start throwing knives that extra knife can be the difference between life and after life."

Gaara opens his mouth to respond but quiets at the sound of two strangers entering the blacksmith shop. They loudly greet someone who's been browsing in the shop as well.

"Hey man did you hear? They're having a meeting in the town square at the end of the week." I blink hearing one of the new strangers call to the person they greeted. That someone had been talking to the cashier, a pretty freckled girl with messy pink hair and a white hair clip. I look at a second simple katana for myself, but my ears are now perked in slight interest.

The blade before me has a white handle which will be ruined in one fight. The one four down from it however is perfect, dark blue balde with a red hilt. It'll do if my current one finally breaks, which should be anyday with how hard I work it.

' _If they are having a town meeting it can only be about one thing.'_ I look to Gaara and he nods, having come to the same conclusion. We listen in as we move closer.

"People are getting anxious." The plain dude at the counter says. "It's been nearly a month since this started and no one has gotten close to getting out of here. A good amount of people have died because they snapped."

"I heard about a few of those." The freckled girl admits, eyes sweeping low for a moment. "I knew a couple of them, they were childhood friends of mine."  
"Oh shit man, I'm sorry!"

"It's alright you didn't know." She's smiling again, waving it off as she hands the guy his purchase and her eyes meet mine behind him. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"We'd like to pay for these." I say holding up the two weapons and Gaara holds up his knives. The random dude steps away, going off to wander with his friends. "Also, what's this about a town meeting?"

"We're holding a meeting in the town square at one in the afternoon on Friday." The girl explains. I nod, listening as she says, "It's probably about going after the boss for this level."

Gaara hums, "I was wondering when people would team up to take down the boss. We already know that the only way we're going to get out is to go through all one-hundred levels."

"We've been here for almost a month already." I sigh and watch Gaara slink off towards the throwing knives. "I know it takes a while to level up but I'm still surprised this didn't happen sooner."

I place the naginata on the counter along with the sword I found as Gaara slinks back with two more bundles of throwing knives.

"Like you said, if we're going for a boss battle I'll need the extra ammo." He explains. I just nod.

"You know your weapons." The freckled clerk whistles, approving. "Most people don't go with the naginata because they don't like how short the blade is."

"Don't know why, it doubles as a throwing weapon, if you can throw it right and manage to hit something then that's one less monster to get near you. It also helps to push enemies back."

The girl behind the counter nods, then shrugs with a wry smile as she responds with, "Unfortunately most people here are sword heads. They rarely bother to explore all the possibilities."

"I think that will change soon. This is life or death. They can't afford to be single minded. They'll need to expand their knowledge and weapons skills. You don't walk into a gun fight without bringing your knife." My brother intones. The girl behind the counter nods with a smile

"Nice to meet you I'm Liz." I look to the corner and see her user. Lizbeth… huh. And she knows her weapons.

Liz starts figuring out the total for our stuff, eyes widen as they get to the naginata. "Ah I see you like my work. It took awhile to figure out how to make the staff for that to be able to separate so it could be shortened to be able to allow for more compact carrying and help for tight quarters combat."

My eyes bulge.

"You made this!?" I croak. "Holy crap dude this thing is wicked cool. The dragon design and the way the whole thing is designed to help you grip it better. It's both functional and awesome in aesthetics."

"Thanks." Liz grins, a happy rose in her cheeks. "You have great taste. I do custom orders too. If there's anything you want, let me know."

Gaara and I nod and she still looks pleased as I say, "I'm Kyu. And this is Ichi. We will definitely hit you up. You make good equipment. This will last us a while." She looks at the items one more time, seemingly calculating the total cost.

"That will be 60,000,000 Cor." Liz chirps.

I blink, tilting my head to the side slightly.

"That's weird, I could've sworn it was supposed to me even more than that." I say, feeling my brows furrow a little.

"Well yeah," Liz waves off, grinning. "But I gave you guys a little discount, for insurance and stuff. I think we're gonna be great business partners."

"Oh yeah? Well thanks Liz, that's really awesome of you." I beam, happy at our turn of luck.

"Yes, thank you." Gaara says.

"Don't sweat it guys." Liz chuckles, and then she peeks up a little. "Hey, do you mind if I send you guys a friend request? Sorry if I seem too forward or something, but you both look really strong and I might need your help someday."

"Huh?" I ask.

"Yeah!" Liz fist pumps, eyes shimmering with the thoughts of the adventures to come. "There's a bunch of quests that can only be completed when you bring along a master blacksmith, it'd be cool if we could do some together sometime."

"Hey yeah, that actually sounds cool." I answer, looking to Gaara. "I heard those blacksmith quests have a ton of cool item drops. What do you think bro? You down for that? It could help later with getting Kono more used to action that isn't too life threatening."

"Mm." Gaara grunts, nodding as he pulls up his player menu. "I agree."

"Really? Alright!" Liz cheers, pulling up her player menu when a mechanical _ding_ rings out through the spiffy shop.

Gaara already sent her a friend request, and she says, "Okay, so I've just accepted a friend request from Ichi, now I'll send one to you Kyu."

"Cool." I say, offering her a thumbs up.

After a short while a ping signals the notice, I accept Liz's friend request and we're all set.

"Thanks again for being so awesome Liz, it's nice to see there's still chill gamers out there." I say as Gaara and I make our way towards the doors.

"I'll say," Liz chuckles and waves. "I guess this means I'll catch you two later."

"Mm." Gaara nods.

"Yeah, later." I salute and then we're on our way again, the chime of a door opening signals our departure.

Gaara and I stroll down the busy cobblestone streets of the town we're in, and lace my fingers behind my head, enjoying the sunshine bathing my skin.

"That was cool, ne brother?" I muse. "We made a new friend and got the squirt a nice graduation gift."

"I don't know if I'd call her a friend so soon but she'll probably be a convenient ally." My brother offers.

"Eh, same diff." I dismiss.

Gaara huffs quietly in amusement but sobers quickly and asks, "Naruto. What do you make of this town meeting?"

"Mm?" I hum, looking at him, seeing how serious he is. "Ah, well if they really are gonna talk about clearing the floor, I think we should probably check it out? Or did you want us to do it alone?"

"We could definitely handle it on our own." Gaara points out. "But we do have a young boy in our party now. Do you think more bodies would help keep him safe, or do you suppose we'd be able to protect him better if it was just the two of us?"

"Well we're a team so it'd probably be safer with just the two of us." I say, thoughtful. "We know how we operate. Our teamwork is instinctive. But I'm not feeling taking Kono with us. Too much risk dude, even if we can protect him, we'll be distracted."

Gaara tilts his head as he listens and I continue with, "Plus, even if we did join the others for one big group there's no guarantee that we won't lose sight of him. The others could abandon him in favor of saving themselves if they deem him too weak to protect."

"You're right. He'll have to stay behind." Gaara admits, frowning faintly. "Though still, do you want to see what their little pow wow is about, and if they really are rallying players to clear the floor?"

"Seems like our best bet." I shrug. "In that case, we're gonna need a base, can't leave Kono in a sleeping bag in the middle of the woods."

"True enough." Gaara agrees, eyes sweeping over the bustling town around us. "So… how much money do you think it is to buy house essentials?"

I laugh.

"Well we're in town, guess it's time for us to figure it out."

* * *

We manage to find a hardware store which is amazing since you wouldn't think it's really needed in this world. We talked with this dude with tan colored hair and purple eyes and he was able to help us figure out how much wood we would need for the size house we want to build. It's surprisingly not a lot. Which also translates to _very expensive._ The guy told us if we can chop down a few branches and bring them to him he can turn it into planks we can use which will save a good amount of money.

Since we don't feel like teleporting to camp, cutting down branches and then coming back we bought a few planks to start with along with a boat ton of nails, screws, a couple hammers, screw driver, measuring tape and rope. Gaara and I share a look that says we're in for a long night. Never mind the week. .

"Well, what was that saying again?" I pipe up, grinning. "No rest for the wicked?"

"Weary." Gaara corrects. "No rest for the weary."

Hm, nah." I chortle. "I know what I said."

Gaara shakes his head fondly and we get to work.

* * *

 **Kamui: I was a little upset that we haven't gotten to any action yet, but things'll pickup next chapter.**

 **Until next time guys, Hellion Duo out.**


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